Edward E. Little

Behavioral indicators of sublethal toxicity in rainbow trout

Four measures of behavior-spontaneous swimming activity, swimming capacity, feeding behavior, and vulnerability to predation-were assessed as indicators of sublethal toxicity in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) in 96-hr exposures to sublethal concentrations of six agricultural chemicals: carbaryl, chlordane, dimethylamine salt of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-DMA), tributyl phosphorotrithioate (DBF 1), methyl parathion, and pentachlorophenol. After exposures, behavioral changes consistently demonstrated sublethal toxicity, but effects on specific behaviors varied with contaminants and their concentrations were altered by the water quality criterion concentration for chlordane (2 μg/L), and at a concentration of DEF (5 μg/L) that had previously been shown to inhibit growth and survival after a 90-day exposure. Feeding behavior was inhibited most by exposure to DEF, 2,4-DMA, and methyl parathion. Vulnerability to predation was heightened most by exposure to carbaryl and pentachlorophenol. Although all chemicals inhibited spontaneous swimming activity, only carbaryl, DEF, and 2,4-DMA influenced swimming capacity.

Effects on Rainbow Trout Fry of a Metals-Contaminated Diet of Benthic Invertebrates from the Clark Fork River, Montana

Abstract The upper Clark Fork River in northwestern Montana has received mining wastes from the Butte and Anaconda areas since 1880. These wastes have contaminated areas of the river bed and floodplain with tailings and heavy metal sludge, resulting in elevated concentration of metals in surface water, sediments, and biota. Rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss were exposed immediately after hatching for 91 d to cadmium, copper, lead, and zinc in water at concentrations simulating those in Clark Fork River. From exogenous feeding (21 d posthatch) through 91 d, fry were also fed benthic invertebrates from the Clark Fork River that contained elevated concentrations of arsenic, cadmium, copper, and lead. Evaluations of different combinations of diet and water exposure indicated diet-borne metals were more important than water-borne metals – at the concentrations we tested – in reducing survival and growth of rainbow trout. Whole-body metal concentrations (μg/g, wet weight) at 91 d in fish fed Clark Fork inverteb...

Interactive Toxicity of Aluminum and Acidity to Early Life Stages of Brook Trout

Abstract The influences of exposure to aluminum and increased acidity on mortality, growth, behavior, and biochemical responses of brook trout Salvelinus fontinalis were evaluated as a function of developmental stage. Eyed eggs and young brook trout were exposed until 30 d after hatching in proportional diluters to pHs of 4.5, 5.5, and 7.2, with and without aluminum (300 μg/L); 37-d-old brook trout that had been held in experimental control water since hatching were exposed to these same conditions for 30 d. Exposure conditions (i.e., aluminum and calcium concentrations and pH) simulated conditions in some headwater lakes and streams in the northeastern United States. Adverse effects on exposed brook trout generally increased as pH decreased from 7.2 to 4.5 and potentiation of effects by aluminum occurred at pHs of 5.5 to 7.2. However, embryos and fish older than 36 d were more tolerant of acidic conditions and aluminum than were larvae less than 15 d old. We conclude that the adverse effects on mortality...

Toxicity and bioaccumulation of waterborne and dietary selenium in juvenile bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus)

Abstract Juvenile bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus) were exposed to waterborne selenium as a 6:1 mixture of selenate to selenite (as Se) for 60 d and to dietary seleno- l -methionine for 90 d. Measured concentrations of total selenium in the waterborne exposure ranged from 0.16 to 2.8 mg/l, and concentrations of seleno- l -methionine in the test diet ranged from 2.3 to 25.0 mg/kg wet weight. Mortality, body weight, condition factor, swimming and feeding behavior, aggression, and selenium tissue residues were monitored during the tests. Increased mortality at measured concentrations of 0.64 mg Se/l and greater was the primary adverse effect of waterborne selenium on the juvenile bluegill. Bluegill exposed to 2.8 mg/l of waterborne Se for 30 d exhibited a significant reduction in condition factor (K), whereas dietary exposure of bluegill to 25 mg Se/kg for 30 d and 13 mg Se/kg or greater for 90 d elicited significant reductions in K. Mortality and swimming activity of bluegill were not affected in the dietary exposure. Net accumulation of Se from both water and diet was directly related to exposure concentration. Bioconcentration factors ranged from 5 to 7 for bluegill exposed to waterborne Se and from 0.5 to 1.0 for fish exposed to dietary Se. Results of these laboratory tests indicate that survival of bluegill may be impaired in natural waters with elevated Se concentrations.

Distribution and bioaccumulation of selenium in aquatic microcosms

Closed-system microcosms were used to study factors affecting the fate of selenium (Se) in aquatic systems. Distribution and bioaccumulation of Se varied among sediment types and Se species. A mixture of dissolved (75)Se species (selenate, selenite and selenomethionine) was sorbed more rapidly to fine-textured, highly organic pond sediments than to sandy riverine sediments. Sulfate did not affect the distribution and bioaccumulation of (75)Se over the range 80-180 mg SO(4) liter(-1). When each Se species was labeled separately, selenomethionine was lost from the water column more rapidly than selenate or selenite. Selenium lost from the water column accumulated primarily in sediments, but volatilization was also an important pathway for loss of Se added as selenomethionine. Loss rates of dissolved Se residues were more rapid than rates reported from mesocosm and field studies, suggesting that sediment: water interactions are more important in microcosms than in larger test systems. Daphnids accumulated highest concentrations of Se, followed by periphyton and macrophytes. Selenium added as selenomethionine was bioaccumulated preferentially compared to that added as selenite or selenate. Organoselenium compounds such as selenomethione may thus contribute disproportionately to Se bioaccumulation and toxicity in aquatic organisms.

Sensitivity of brook trout to low pH, low and elevated aluminum concentrations during laboratory pulse exposures

Yolk-sac larvae of brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) were exposed to four sequential low pH and calcium (Ca) pulses, nominally ranging from pH 6.5 to 4.0 in 0.5 pH unit increments, with and without 300 mg/l aluminum (Al) in 28-day toxicity tests. Calcium concentrations during the pulses varied from 0.5 to 1.3 mg/1. Swim-up larvae that had begun to feed were exposed to a single pulse of the same pH and Ca concentrations with 300 mg/l Al. The larvae were allowed to recover for 120-h at circumneutral pH and Ca concentrations that varied from 2.1 to 3.3 mg/l after each pulse exposure. Effects of the pulse exposures on survival, growth, whole-body ion concentrations, and behavioral development were monitored. Mortality of larvae was significant in all low pH and Ca treatments with Al after the first pulse and after the first low pH and Ca pulse at pH 4.0. Growth was significantly reduced among larvae exposed to the low pH and Ca pulses at pH 4.0. In general, growth was most severely affected among larvae exposed to the low pH and Ca pulses with Al at pH 6.1 and lower. Relative to controls, the low pH and Ca pulse exposures with and without Al reduced whole-body Na+, Ca2+, K+, Mg2+ P, and Cl−, Wholebody Ca2+ was most severely reduced followed by Na+, K+, Cl−, P, and Mg2+. The pulse exposures also caused delayed development and significant reductions in swimming activity and feeding of the larvae. These results support field observations that cyclic pH and Ca depressions, and concurrent increases in Al concentrations may cause mortality and have other adverse effects on natural fish populations.

Influence of pH and aluminum on developing brook trout in a low calcium water

Eyed embryos of brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) were exposed to nominal pHs of 4.5, 5.5 and 7.5 with and without aluminum (300 microg liter(-1)) in extremely soft water (hardness <9mg liter (-1)) at 12 degrees C. Embryo mortality exceeded 80% at pH 4.5, averaged 15 to 18% in the pH 5.5 treatments and was less than 2% in the pH 7.5 treatments. Aluminum significantly reduced embryo mortality (85.3% vs 99.5%) at pH 4.5 but did not affect mortality at pH 5.5 or pH 7.5. Percent hatch and poor hatch were pH dependent and were not significantly influenced by aluminum. Brook trout larvae cumulative mortalities were 100% within 30 days at pH 4.5, with or without aluminum; 69% after 60 days at pH 5.5; 100% in 15 days at pH 5.5 with aluminum and 20% after 60 days at pH 7.5 with or without aluminum. Fish that survived the pH 5.5 treatment showed decreased growth and behavioral impairments compared to the controls (pH 7.5 without aluminum).

Sensitivity of Endemic Snake River Cutthroat Trout to Acidity and Elevated Aluminum

Abstract Acidic episodes in waters of the western USA, do not last as long and are not as intense as those in the eastern USA, but we found that the native western cutthroat trout Oncorhynchus clarki is sensitive to even brief reductions in pH. In laboratory studies, fish were exposed to acidity (pH 4.5–6.5) alone or in the presence of aluminum during the first 7 d of the freshly fertilized egg, eyed embryo, alevin, or swim-up larva stages of development. Following exposure to acidity and aluminum, eggs and fish were held under control water quality conditions to 40 d posthatch to assess effects of the exposure on subsequent development. Reductions in pH from 6.5 to 6.0 in low-calcium water (1.4 mg/L) did not affect survival, but reduced growth offish in the early life stages. The presence of as little as 50 μg A1/L at low pH further decreased growth and reduced survival. The most sensitive indicators of stress were loss of ions (determined from whole-body sampling) and reduced swimming in alevins, reduct...

Aquatic hazard assessment of the organophosphate insecticide fonofos

This study determined the acute and chronic toxicity of the organophosphate insecticide fonofos to standard freshwater aquatic organisms under laboratory conditions. Fonofos was acutely toxic to bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus), Daphnia (D. magna), and midge (Chironomous riparius) at 5.3, 2.7, and 39 μg/L, respectively. Three fonofos formulations (technical, 94.8% A.I.; 20G, field granular 20% A.I.; and 4E, field liquid 4#/gal A.I.) exhibited similar acute toxicities to bluegill. Exposure to fonofos delayed reproduction and decreased the intrinsic rate of increase of Daphnia during 21-d chronic exposure at the lowest tested concentration (0.08 μg/L). The no observable effect concentration (NOEC) for Daphnia survival was 0.42 μg/L; 0% survival occurred at the lowest observable effect concentration (LOEC) of 1.45 μg/L. The NOEC for midge emergence was 3.42 μg/L; only 34% emergence occurred at the LOEC of 8.24 μg/L. Chronic 30-d exposure of juvenile bluegills decreased growth and survival at 5.65 μg/L (LOEC), but no effects occurred at 2.33 μg/L (NOEC). The relative hazard of fonofos to aquatic life is similar to other carbamate and organophosphate corn insecticides.

Chronic toxicity and hazard assessment of an inorganic mixture simulating irrigation drainwater to razorback sucker and bonytail

We conducted two 90 day chronic toxicity studies with two endangered fish, razorback sucker and bonytail. Swim‐up larvae were exposed in a reconstituted water simulating the middle Green River. The toxicant mixture simulated the environmental ratio and concentrations of inorganics reported in a Department of the Interior study for the mouth of Ashley Creek on the Green River, and was composed of nine elements. The mixture was tested at 1X, 2X, 4X, 8X, and 16X where X was the measured environmental concentration (2 μg/L arsenic, 630 μg/L boron, 10 μg/L copper, 5 μg/L molybdenum, 51 μg/L selenate, 8 μg/L selenite, 33 μg/L uranium, 2 μg/L vanadium, and 20 μg/L zinc). Razorback sucker had reduced survival after 60 days exposure to the inorganic mixture at 8X, whereas growth was reduced after 30 and 60 days at 2X and after 90 days at 4X. Bonytail had reduced survival after 30 days exposure at 16X, whereas growth was reduced after 30, 60, and 90 days at 8X. Swimming performance of razorback sucker and bonytail were reduced after 60 and 90 days of exposure at 8X. Whole‐body residues of copper, selenium, and zinc increased in a concentration‐response manner and seemed to be regulated at 90 days of exposure at 4X and lower treatments for razorback sucker, and at 8X and lower for bonytail. Adverse effects occurred in fish with whole‐body residues of copper, selenium, and zinc similar to those causing similar effects in other fish species. Comparison of adverse effect concentrations with measured environmental concentrations showed a high hazard to the two endangered fish. Irrigation activities may be a contributing factor to the decline of these endangered fishes in the middle Green River. ©2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Environ Toxicol 15: 48–64, 2000