Quantitative biomonitoring in the Detroit River using Elliptio complanata: Verification of steady state correction factors and temporal trends of PCBs in water between 1998-2015

Quantitative biomonitoring methods were applied to determine PCB concentrations in water from the Detroit River over a 17 year period. During 2014, mussels were deployed for and extended duration (21-364 d) and time dependent PCB concentrations were fit to a bioaccumulation model to estimate elimination coefficients (ktot) and provide site specific calibration of mussel toxicokinetics. The site specific calibration and different ktot versus KOW relationships from the literature were used to correct for steady state. ∑PCB concentrations in water were not significantly dependent on the ktot values used indicating that individual variation exceeds error contributed by steady state correction factors. The model was then applied to estimate ∑PCB concentrations in water using the long term (1998-2015) data. ∑PCBs concentrations in water exhibited a significant decreasing trend with a half life of 9.12 years resulting in a drop in yearly geometric mean residues from 198.1 pg/L to 43.6 pg/L

Comparison of thermal tolerance and standard metabolic rate of two Great Lakes invasive fish species

Round goby (Neogobius melanostomus) and western tubenose goby (Proterorhinus semilunaris) invaded the Laurentian Great Lakes at approximately the same time and area yet have shown substantial differences in their post-invasion success with more rapid establishment and development of much larger abundances of round goby populations throughout the invaded habitat. In this study, we compared differences in physiological performance (thermal tolerance and standard metabolic rate) between round and tubenose goby collected from the Huron-Erie corridor. Tubenose goby were observed to have lower thermal tolerance but exhibited similar standard metabolic rate across environmental temperatures compared to round goby. At temperatures exceeding 31oC, tubenose goby demonstrated significantly higher mortalities and shorter times to death relative to round goby. The observed differences in thermal tolerance were consistent with differences in the native geographic ranges observed for each species at their southern ranges. The observed differences in physiological performance combined with species differences in other life history traits such body size, reproduction, feeding ecology and habitat affiliation may also explain differences in the invasiveness experienced by these two Great Lakes invasive fish including a greater ability of round gobies to occupy extreme habitats with large water temperature fluctuations

Bioamplification and the Selective Depletion of Persistent Organic Pollutants in Chinook Salmon Larvae

The maternal provisioning of yolk to eggs transfers significant quantities of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). As yolk utilization progresses via metabolic activity, there is a potential to realize further increases in POP concentrations if yolk lipids are depleted at a faster rate than POPs, a condition referred to as bioamplification. This study investigated the bioamplification of POPs in Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) eggs and larvae. Chinook eggs were sampled from the Credit River, ON, Canada, and brought to an aquaculture facility where they were fertilized, incubated, and maintained posthatch until maternally derived lipid reserves became depleted (approximately 168 days). The loss of chemicals having an octanol water partition coefficient (log K-OW) greater than 5.8 was slow to negligible from days 0-135. However, during the increase in water temperatures in early spring, K-OW-dependent elimination of POPs was observed. Bioamplification was maximized for the highest log K-OW POPs, with an approximate 5-fold increase in lipid equivalents concentrations in 168 day old larvae as compared to newly fertilized eggs. This study demonstrates that later yolk-sac Chinook larvae (before exogenous feeding) are exposed to higher lipid equivalents POP concentrations than predicted by maternal deposition, which could lead to underestimates in the toxicity of critical life stages

The effect of food provisioning on persistent organic pollutant bioamplification in Chinook salmon larvae

Fall spawning pacific salmon provision large amounts of yolk to their eggs to allow survival of larvae during under the ice winter conditions. This yolk provisioning leads to maternal offloading of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) to eggs and larvae. Previous research has shown that Chinook salmon larvae exhibit limited capacity to eliminate POPs during the cold water period resulting in bioamplification of POP residues. This study compared POPs bioamplification in Chinook salmon larvae under a high food provisioning treatment and a non-fed treatment to test whether or not food availability attenuates POPs bioamplification via growth dilution. Results demonstrate that larvae in the food provisioning treatment did not gain weight until after day 129. Between hatching and day 129, fed and non-fed treatments exhibited similar decreases in whole body lipid content, negligible POPs elimination and POPs bioamplification factors approaching 1.6. By day 184 of the study, POPs bioamplification factors in the non-fed treatment were as high as 5.3 across chemicals but ranged from non-detectable to approaching 1 in the fed group. This study demonstrates that POPs bioamplification occurs in Chinook salmon larvae even under ideal rearing conditions but peaks after day 129, following which growth dilution can attenuate bioamplification relative to starved individuals. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Bioamplification and the Selective Depletion of Persistent Organic Pollutants in Chinook Salmon Larvae

The maternal provisioning of yolk to eggs transfers significant quantities of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). As yolk utilization progresses via metabolic activity, there is a potential to realize further increases in POP concentrations if yolk lipids are depleted at a faster rate than POPs, a condition referred to as bioamplification. This study investigated the bioamplification of POPs in Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) eggs and larvae. Chinook eggs were sampled from the Credit River, ON, Canada, and brought to an aquaculture facility where they were fertilized, incubated, and maintained posthatch until maternally derived lipid reserves became depleted (approximately 168 days). The loss of chemicals having an octanol–water partition coefficient (log <i>K</i>_OW) greater than 5.8 was slow to negligible from days 0–135. However, during the increase in water temperatures in early spring, <i>K</i>_OW-dependent elimination of POPs was observed. Bioamplification was maximized for the highest log <i>K</i>_OW POPs, with an approximate 5-fold increase in lipid equivalents concentrations in 168 day old larvae as compared to newly fertilized eggs. This study demonstrates that later yolk-sac Chinook larvae (before exogenous feeding) are exposed to higher lipid equivalents POP concentrations than predicted by maternal deposition, which could lead to underestimates in the toxicity of critical life stages

Data from: Evaluation of an acoustic telemetry transmitter designed to identify predation events

The field of acoustic telemetry has evolved rapidly and now permits the remote sensing of animal behaviour, movement, physiology and survival in environments and species not previously possible. However, an inability to detect when a telemetered animal is consumed by a predator can complicate accurate interpretation of telemetry data. Here, we describe efforts to test two generations of a novel prototype acoustic telemetry transmitter designed specifically to detect predation. Testing involved either staged predation events where tagged prey (Rainbow Trout Oncorhynchus mykiss and Yellow Perch Perca flavescens) were fed to captive Largemouth Bass Micropterus salmoides, or false positive testing where prey fish were tagged and held without risk of predation. Metrics of interest were (a) the rate of correctly identifying predation events, (b) signal lag (i.e. the time required to detect a predation event), (c) tag retention time in the predator's gut, and (d) the rate of false positive triggering in both live and dead prey fishes. Staged predation events were successfully identified in 61/65 and 52/55 trials for generation 1 and 2 tags, respectively. Signal lag time was reduced in generation 1 tags (generally between 1 - 9 hours) relative to generation 2 (3 - 29 hours); although signal lag was highly variable. A generalized linear mixed model indicated strong evidence that signal lag and tag retention were both negatively correlated with water temperature, but were not affected by prey species and only slightly by individual predator traits. There was preliminary evidence that prey size may be an important determinant of both signal lag and tag retention. False positives in live fish were absent after 120 days for generation 1 tags (n=31), however rates were significantly higher (10/44) after only 66 days for generation 2 tags. False positives in dead fish suggested that 20% of generation 2 predation tags would falsely trigger 2-3 days post-mortem. Testing of the novel predation tags was encouraging however further testing is recommended. Predation tags will be an important contribution to the field of acoustic telemetry; permitting improved data interpretation and less subjective estimates of predation rates in biotelemetry studies

Tag Retention Data

Tag retention data for predation tag transmitters. Represents the time from the predation event until the tag was evacuated from the predator (Largemouth Bass). PRED = Individual Largemouth Bass,TAG_ID_BEF = Acoustic Tag ID before predation. All length measurements in mm, weights in grams

R-script for analysis of signal lag data

R-script for analysis of signal lag data

Summarized False Positive Data

Summarized False Positive Dat