Biomonitoring of Environmental Status and Trends (BEST) Program: Environmental contaminants and their effects on fish in the Rio Grande Basin

Schmitt, Christopher J.; Dethloff, Gail M.; Hinck, Jo Ellen; Bartish, Timothy M.; Blazer, Vicki S.; Coyle, James J.; Denslow, Nancy D.; Tillitt, Donald E.

doi:10.3133/sir20045108

Cited by 37 publications

(75 citation statements)

References 112 publications

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“…Mercury concentrations in YRB pike were among the highest measured in predatory fish when comparing similar monitoring studies. Mercury concentrations were lower in pike (<0.02-0.18 lg/g) from the Mississippi River Basin Grande Basin compared to those in YRB pike (0.08-0.65 lg/g), and whole-body Hg concentrations >0.3 lg/g in any species were rare in other riverine monitoring studies (Hinck et al 2004b;Schmitt et al 2004). Mercury concentrations in pike can be highly variable in subarctic and arctic waters Jewett et al 2003;) and can often differ with ecosystem structure and trophic dynamics (Cabana et al 1994).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 71%

Environmental Contaminants in Fish and Their Associated Risk to Piscivorous Wildlife in the Yukon River Basin, Alaska

Hinck

Schmitt

Echols

et al. 2006

Arch Environ Contam Toxicol

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 71%

Environmental Contaminants in Fish and Their Associated Risk to Piscivorous Wildlife in the Yukon River Basin, Alaska

Hinck

Schmitt

Echols

et al. 2006

Arch Environ Contam Toxicol

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“…This site is located in the upper Potomac River watershed, which is adjacent to the easternmost drainages of the MRB (Figure 1). The site was sampled primarily because it was the source of the fish used to develop some of the biological methods used in the larger study (Schmitt and Dethloff, 2000;Schmitt, 2002a); their contaminant content had not been previously determined. Because all the NCBP and NAWQA sites in the MRB are contaminated to some degree, the West Virginia site was also believed to provide additional information on contemporary background concentrations.…”

Section: Study Area and Collection Sitesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Common carp (Cyprinus carpio, hereafter 'carp') and black bass (Micropterus sp., 'bass') were targeted for collection. These taxa were selected because they are widely distributed and were prevalent in past NCBP and NAWQA collections in the MRB (Crawford and Luoma, 1993;Heiny and Tate, 1997;Schmitt et al, 1999b) and because the biological endpoints measured in other components of the larger study (Schmitt, 2002a) had been most thoroughly tested in them. The collection target at NCBP sites and the reference site was 10 (each) adult male and female of each taxon -40 fish per site.…”

Section: Target Species and Sampling Strategymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nevertheless, there is a substantial body of information indicating that concentrations of organochlorine chemicals, mercury (Hg), and other persistent contaminants in fish may remain sufficiently elevated to harm fish and wildlife in some areas, and levels of some may be rising (e.g., Gooch and Matsamura, 1987;Colborn, 1991;Tillitt et al, 1992;Farag et al, 1994Farag et al, , 1995Schmitt and Bunck, 1995;Woodward et al, 1997;Yeardley et al, 1998;Schmitt, 1999Schmitt, , 2002aSchmitt et al, 1999bSchmitt et al, , 2002Stansley and Roscoe, 1999;Wildhaber et al, 2000;Brumbaugh et al, 2001). Concentrations of persistent contaminants in fish are therefore measured as integral parts of many environmental monitoring programs (Hirsch et al, 1988;Messer et al, 1989;Biomonitoring of Environmental Status and Trends Program (BEST), 1996;Schmitt and Dethloff, 2000) and have been recommended as indicators of sustainable economic development (U.S. Council on Environmental Quality, 1997).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This paper summarizes one part of a larger investigation conducted in 1995-1996 that included both chemical and biological indicators (Schmitt, 2002a) and which was designed to assess the exposure of fish in rivers of the Mississippi River Basin (MRB) to environmental contaminants. The paper provides contemporary information on the distribution, concentrations, and ecological risks of arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), lead (Pb), selenium (Se), and zinc (Zn) in fish from the MRB, where contaminants in fish had not been evaluated comprehensively since the mid-1980s (Schmitt and Bunck, 1995;Schmitt et al, 1999b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Concentrations of Arsenic, Cadmium, Copper, Lead, Selenium, and Zinc in Fish from the Mississippi River Basin, 1995

Schmitt

2004

Environ Monit Assess

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Abstract. Fish were collected in late 1995 from 34 National Contaminant Biomonitoring Program (NCBP) stations and 12 National Water Quality Assessment Program (NAWQA) stations in the Mississippi River basin (MRB), and in late 1996 from a reference site in West Virginia. The NCBP sites represented key points (dams, tributaries, etc.) in the largest rivers of the MRB. The NAWQA sites were typically on smaller rivers and were selected to represent dominant land uses in their watersheds. The West Virginia site, which is in an Eastern U.S. watershed adjacent to the MRB, was selected to document elemental concentrations in fish used for other aspects of a larger study and to provide additional contemporaneous data on background elemental concentrations. At each site four samples, each comprising (nominally) 10 adult common carp (Cyprinus carpio, 'carp') or black bass (Micropterus spp., 'bass') of the same sex, were collected. The whole fish were composited by station, species, and gender for analysis of arsenic (As), lead (Pb), and selenium (Se) by atomic absorption spectroscopy and for cadmium (Cd), copper (Cu), and zinc (Zn) by inductively-coupled plasma emission spectroscopy. Concentrations of most of the elements examined were lower in both carp and bass from the reference site, a small impoundment located in a rural area, than from the NCBP and NAWQA sites on rivers and larger impoundments. In contrast, there were few overall differences between NCBP sites NAWQA sites. The 1995 results generally confirmed the continued weathering and re-distribution of these elemental contaminants in the MRB; concentrations declined or were unchanged from 1984-1986 to 1995 at most NCBP sites, thus continuing two-decade trends. Exceptions were Se at Station 77 (Arkansas R. at John Martin Reservoir, CO), where concentrations have been elevated historically and increased slightly (to 3.8-4.7 µg g −1 in bass and carp); and Pb, Cd, and Zn at Station 67 (Allegheny R. at Natrona, PA), where levels of these metals were high in the past and increased from 1986 to 1995.

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Histopathologic Prevalence and Severity of Testicular Oocytes in Smallmouth Bass from Two Archival Collections

et al. 2020

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During recent decades, survey studies have documented the widespread presence of oocytes in the testes of male Smallmouth Bass Micropterus dolomieu collected from surface waters throughout the United States. There are few published reports of testicular oocytes (TO) in Smallmouth Bass before the 1990s, so it is difficult to know how long this has been occurring. Consequently, this study was conducted to evaluate the prevalence and severity of TO occurrence in whole fish specimens from two archival collections—the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History in Suitland, Maryland, and Cornell University's Museum of Vertebrates in Ithaca, New York. Gonads were excised from 167 preserved male Smallmouth Bass that were originally collected between 1875 and 2004, and routine histologic sections were prepared and examined. The severity of TO was determined using a semiquantitative scoring system. Overall, 52.1% of male Smallmouth Bass were found to have TO. Affected fish had been collected in 11 of the 18 represented states, and TO were found in specimens harvested during decades as early as the 1880s and 1900s. Unfortunately, the small number of samples acquired at the earliest time periods precluded analyses of prevalence and severity trends over time. The results of this study demonstrated that the phenomenon of TO in male Smallmouth Bass is at least a century old and confirmed the widespread nature of this finding throughout the species’ historic range. Further research efforts should focus on determining the baseline prevalence of TO in laboratory‐reared male Smallmouth Bass that have not been exposed to endocrine active substances or the effects of experimental estrogen exposure on such fish.

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Biomonitoring of Environmental Status and Trends (BEST) Program: Environmental contaminants and their effects on fish in the Rio Grande Basin

Cited by 37 publications

References 112 publications

Environmental Contaminants in Fish and Their Associated Risk to Piscivorous Wildlife in the Yukon River Basin, Alaska

Environmental Contaminants in Fish and Their Associated Risk to Piscivorous Wildlife in the Yukon River Basin, Alaska

Concentrations of Arsenic, Cadmium, Copper, Lead, Selenium, and Zinc in Fish from the Mississippi River Basin, 1995

Histopathologic Prevalence and Severity of Testicular Oocytes in Smallmouth Bass from Two Archival Collections

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