Land Use Contributions to Adverse Biological Effects in a Complex Agricultural and Urban Watershed: A Case Study of the Maumee River

Abstract

Agricultural and urban contaminants are an environmental concern because runoff may contaminate aquatic ecosystems, resulting in stress for exposed fish. The objective of the present controlled, field‐based study was to assess the impacts of high‐intensity agriculture and urban land use on multiple life stages of the fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas), using the Maumee River (Toledo, OH, USA) as a case study. Laboratory cultured adult and larval fathead minnows were exposed for 21 d, and embryos were exposed until hatching to site‐specific water along the lower reach of the Maumee River. Adult minnows were analyzed for reproduction and alterations to hematologic characteristics (vitellogenin, glucose, estradiol, 11‐ketotestosterone). Water and fish tissue samples were analyzed for a suite of multiresidue pesticides, hormones, and pharmaceuticals. Contaminants were detected in every water and tissue sample, with 6 pesticides and 8 pharmaceuticals detected in at least 82% of water samples and at least half of tissue samples. Effects differed by exposed life stage and year of exposure. Fecundity was the most sensitive endpoint measured and was altered by water from multiple sites in both years. Physiological parameters associated with fecundity, such as plasma vitellogenin and steroid hormone concentrations, were seldom impacted. Larval fathead minnows appeared to be unaffected. Embryonic morphological development was delayed in embryos exposed to site waters collected in 2016 but not in 2017. A distinction between agricultural and urban influences in the Maumee River was not realized due to the great overlap in contaminant presence and biological effects. Differences in precipitation patterns between study years likely contributed to the observed biological differences and highlight the need for environmental exposure studies to assess the environmental risk of contaminants. Environ Toxicol Chem 2019;00:1‐17. © 2019 SETAC

Legacy and Contaminants of Emerging Concern in Tree Swallows Along an Agricultural to Industrial Gradient: Maumee River, Ohio

“…No one matrix type captures all PPCP, bioaccumulative insecticide, or N‐OC pesticide exposures. Water samples, for example, underrepresent many of the legacy lipophilic organochlorine contaminants (e.g., mirex, p,p ′‐DDE, oxychlordane), which are routinely detected in avian tissues because of biomagnification (Smalling et al 2013; Cipoletti et al 2019; present study). Smalling et al (2013) also found that neither sediment nor water predicted herbicide and fungicide residues in frog tissue.…”

“…Interestingly, iopamidol, although present in nearly all mussel samples from the Maumee River, was not detected in 12 other locations reported on by Kimbrough et al (2018). In composited fish samples from the Maumee River, azithromycin, like in swallow liver tissue, was detected in all samples during that concurrent study (Cipoletti et al 2019). In contrast to tree swallows, whereas DEET and iopamidol were detected in water, these 2 PPCPs were not detected in the whole composite fish samples.…”

“…Chlorpyriphos, a widely used organophosphate insecticide, was detected in swallow diet samples but not in swallow eggs or nestlings, as was expected for this class of insecticides. Similarly, chlorpyriphos was detected in water but not in fish from the Maumee River (Cipoletti et al 2019).…”

“…Usually, few PPCPs are detected in samples, whether abiotic (Baldwin et al 2016; Burns et al 2017) or biotic (Lazarus et al 2014; Bean et al 2018; Kimbrough et al 2018; Cipoletti et al 2019), although this generality belies the sometimes catastrophic effects that can result from pharmaceutical exposure. Old world vulture populations declined by >95% because of renal failure and visceral gout as a result of diclofenac exposure (Oaks et al 2004).…”

“…The Maumee River in Ohio was selected for a series of coordinated monitoring and research projects in 2016 and 2017 to understand exposure to and possible effects of CECs at different trophic levels and in different sampling matrices (water, sediment, and various fish and wildlife species). In addition, in vitro assays and laboratory studies using fish were conducted to understand the possible environmental effects of CECs under controlled conditions (Cipoletti et al 2019) to help better interpret field data. The Maumee River was selected as the joint study location because it presented a land‐use gradient from high‐intensity agriculture to highly urban and industrial and integrated contaminant loadings from multiple sources.…”