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Relationships between physiological and fish population responses in a contaminated stream
Author(s) -
Adams S. Marshall,
Crumby W. Dennis,
Greeley Mark S.,
Ryon Michael G.,
Schilling Elizabeth M.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
environmental toxicology and chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.1
H-Index - 171
eISSN - 1552-8618
pISSN - 0730-7268
DOI - 10.1002/etc.5620111105
Subject(s) - toxicant , fecundity , biomonitoring , biology , population , ecology , contamination , fish <actinopterygii> , invertebrate , toxicology , zoology , environmental chemistry , toxicity , chemistry , fishery , environmental health , medicine , organic chemistry
Relationships between toxicant exposure, physiological effects, and population‐level responses were investigated in redbreast sunfish ( Lepomis auritus ) from a stream receiving chronic inputs of mixed contaminants. Elevated levels of detoxification enzymes, which provided evidence of direct toxicant exposure, were associated with low lipid levels, histopathological damage, and reduced growth for fish at the upper three sites in the contaminated stream. Decreased fecundity, exhibited by fish at the upper site, might have been due to the reduced capacity of the liver to manufacture yolk proteins. Reduction in lipid pools due to metabolic drains might have decreased the amount of physiological useful energy needed for growth resulting in smaller age‐specific sizes of fish at the upper three sites. This approach for investigating relationships between contaminant exposure, physiological effects, and population‐level responses such as growth and size distributions could serve as a model for designing biomonitoring studies and for stimulating further research to improve our ability to evaluate the ecological significance of chronic contaminant stressors on aquatic ecosystems.