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USING STABLE ISOTOPES TO TRACK BIOMAGNIFICATION OF POLYCHLORINATED BIPHENYLS (PCBS) THROUGH STREAM FOOD WEBS
Citation:
WALTERS, DAVID M., K. M. FRITZ, B. R. JOHNSON, AND J. M. LAZORCHAK. USING STABLE ISOTOPES TO TRACK BIOMAGNIFICATION OF POLYCHLORINATED BIPHENYLS (PCBS) THROUGH STREAM FOOD WEBS. Presented at North American Benthological Society, New Orleans, LA, May 22 - 28, 2005.
Impact/Purpose:
The goals of this research are to:
(1) determine how landscape characteristics relate to the spread of red shiner through southeastern river systems,
(2) identify behavioral and genetic mechanisms underlying interspecific hybridization, and
(3) develop models to assess the vulnerability of tributary streams to invasion by red shiner.
Description:
Biomagnification studies of PCBs in streams are rare, even though PCBs are known to biomagnify and persist in aquatic ecosystems. We investigated PCB contamination in Twelve Mile Creek (Clemson, South Carolina, U.S.A.), a stream that received >400,000 lbs. of PCBs from 1955-1978. Our goals were to determine if PCBs biomagnify in streams and to measure the relative importance of heterotrophic and autotrophic pathways for biomagnification.