Sherpa Romeo green journalThis review summarizes some of the main findings of our work with the Metals
in the Environment Research Network examining seasonal and regional effects on
metal accumulation, growth, condition, and physiology in wild yellow perch (Perca
flavescens) from 10 lakes comprising two metal contamination gradients in the industrial
regions of Sudbury, Ontario and Rouyn-Noranda, Qu´ebec, Canada. The specific
objectives of this review are: (1) to propose threshold tissue metal concentrations
to discriminate between fish from contaminated and reference sites; (2) to identify
factors that can influence metal accumulation and fish condition; and (3) to define
an experimental approach for measuring metal effects in wild yellow perch. Using
tissue thresholds appeared useful not only for discriminating fish from clean or contaminated
environments, but also provided a simple approach to examine metabolic
consequences of tissue metal accumulation. Overall, fish from Sudbury grew faster,
expressed higher aerobic capacities, and died younger, but also appeared better at
limiting accumulation of some metals than Rouyn-Noranda fish. The condition of
the latter fish was clearly more affected by metals than Sudbury fish. Finally, our
dataset allows us to propose that yellow perch are highly suitable for ecological risk
assessment studies of metal effects in wild fish, but that fish size, season, and region
must be considered in sampling design and that several reference sites must be
studied for meaningful conclusions to be reached.Ye