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Title: TRENDS IN THE ACCUMULATION OF POP'S BY RAINBOW SMELT COLLECTED FROM LAKES SUPERIOR, MICHIGAN, AND HURON

Author
item Rice, Clifford
item CHERNYAK, SERGEI - UNIV. OF MICHIGAN
item BEGNOCHE, LINDA - USGS
item QUINTAL, RICHARD - USGS
item HICKEY, JAMES - USGS
item Vinyard, Bryan

Submitted to: Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC)
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/20/2004
Publication Date: 11/20/2004
Citation: Rice, C., Chernyak, S.M., Begnoche, L.J., Quintal, R.T., Hickey, J.P., Vinyard, B.T. 2004. Trends in the accumulation of pop's by rainbow smelt collected from Lakes Superior, Michigan, and Huron [abstract]. Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry Abstracts. Abstract PM-231. November 11, 2004. pp. 203.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Data are presented for selected organochlorine (OC) and polybrominated diphenyl ether (PBDE) concentrations in archive samples of rainbow smelt (Osmerus mordax) collected from three of the Great Lakes (Huron, Michigan and Superior). The specific OCs measured were total toxaphene (t-tox), total PCB (t-PCB), total chlordane (t-Chlor), and p,p'-DDE). For the PBDEs the concentrations of the most abundant homologue, BDE-47, are reported. The collections span the years 1983 to 1999, and the data represent analyses of composite collections from at least two fixed sites from each of the three lakes. With the exception of t-PCB and t-tox in Lake Superior, all of the OC data could be fitted to exponential decay profiles that defined loss half-lives ranging from 5.7 years for t-tox at the Saugatuck collection site in Lake Michigan to 11.3 years for t-Chlor in Lake Superior (three sites combined), while t-PCB and t-tox in Lake Superior remained essential constant. The trends for BDE-47 in all three lakes followed an exponential increase over the sampled period with doubling times ranging from 1.58 years to 2.94 years for the two respective areas in Lake Huron, Alpena + Rockport and Port Austin. The Lake Michigan and Superior increases were 1.75 and 2.16 years, respectively. All of these BDE-47 increases are much more rapid than reported by other research groups for fish from the Great Lakes and may reflect the fact that rainbow smelt respond more quickly to ambient changes in contaminant exposure levels than larger, fattier fish such as lake trout.