The Toxicological Effects of the Mount Polley Tailings Impoundment Breach on Freshwater Amphipods
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THE TOXICOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF THE MOUNT POLLEY TAILINGS IMPOUNDMENT BREACH ON FRESHWATER AMPHIPODS RAEGAN D. PLOMP Bachelor of Science, University of Lethbridge, 2017 A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE in BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES Department of Biological Sciences University of Lethbridge LETHBRIDGE, ALBERTA, CANADA © Raegan Plomp, 2019 THE TOXICOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF THE MOUNT POLLEY TAILINGS IMPOUNDMENT BREACH ON FRESHWATER AMPHIPODS RAEGAN D. PLOMP Date of Defence: September 6, 2019 Dr. G. Pyle Professor Ph.D. Supervisor Dr. S. Wiseman Associate Professor Ph.D. Thesis Examination Committee Member Dr. R. Laird Associate Professor Ph.D. Thesis Examination Committee Member Dr. Laura Chasmer Assistant Professor Ph.D. Internal External Examiner Department of Geography Dr. T. Russell Associate Professor Ph.D. Chair, Thesis Examination Committee ii Abstract The bioavailability and toxicity of metals to amphipods is influenced by exposure route and co-toxic mechanisms. Metal bioavailability was studied in amphipods at sites affected by the 2014 Mount Polley Mining Corporation tailings impoundment breach. The area around the lake was also subjected to wildfire in 2017. Bioavailability was more correlated with sediment than waterborne metal concentrations with Cu correlating well with distance from the breach. Copper-sediment bioavailability to amphipods in combination with wildfire runoff was studied resulting in non-additive toxicity. Hyalella azteca exposed to Cu-enriched sediment with fire extract (FE) experienced a more-than- additive effect on survival and amphipod whole-body Cu concentration but no significant reduction in growth or acetylcholinesterase activity compared to the Cu-contaminated sediment or FE alone, respectively. The present study highlighted the importance of using biological vectors to assess toxicity, sediment-focused toxicity study following contamination events, and revealed the co-toxic effect of FE and Cu-enriched sediment. iii Acknowledgements My acknowledgments must begin with my deepest thanks to my supervisor Dr. Greg Pyle for his guidance in this project and for always pushing me to achieve my best. Thank you to my supervisory committee members Dr. Steve Wiseman and Dr. Robert Laird, and my external examiner Dr. Laura Chasmer. Thank you to Dr. Jaimie Klemish for your endless encouragement, assistance with project planning and execution, and creation of the sampling site map. Thank you to the Quesnel River Research Center (QRRC) for your hospitality while I was completing my field work. Thank you to Michael Allchin for your assistance, accommodation, and boat driving while I was at the QRRC. Thank you to Lazlo Enyedy for your assistance with collecting water samples, boat driving, and knowledge of the Quesnel Lake area. Thank you to Dr. Ellen Petticrew for your invaluable advice while I was at the QRRC. Thank you to Dr. Ali Azizshirazi and Anne Willis for the preliminary sampling work done in the Quesnel Lake area that guided this project. Thank you to Dr. John Giesy for your expertise on polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Thank you to Dr. Graham VanAggelen of the Pacific and Yukon Laboratory for Environmental Testing (PYLET) for providing Hyalella azteca to establish a culture in the Pyle laboratory. Thank you to Johane Joncas and the Aquatic Toxicology Research Centre Environmental Laboratory at Lakehead University for running my DOC and ICP-MS samples. Thank you to Sarah Bogart for your help with running the GF-AAS, establishing the Hyalella azteca culture, and project trouble- shooting. Thank you to Sean Everitt for trouble-shooting the AChE protocol. Thank you to Anne Willis, Lisa Bogart, Alicia Macdonald-Wilson, and Madison Gerbrandt for being excellent laboratory technicians. Thank you to James Nilsson for being an excellent field and laboratory technician. iv I must thank the funding agencies who made this project possible. Thank you to the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC). Thank you to Environment and Climate Change Canada. Thank you to the Environmental Damages Fund. Thank you to the Campus Alberta Innovation Program (CAIP). I also need to thank my fellow lab-mates Parastoo Razmara, Dr. Ebi Lari, Sylvia Chow, Jody Heerema, Dylan Steinkey, Stina Lindh, Dr. Sina Volz, Sean Everitt, Lauren Zink, Sarah Bogart, and Dr. Jaime Klemish for your friendship and support during my time as a member of the Pyle lab. Finally, thank you to Mom, Dad, Allissa and Kailie for your unconditional love and for tolerating all my scientific mumbo jumbo over the past few years. v TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: Introduction ........................................................................................... 1 Research Objectives ................................................................................................. 11 CHAPTER 2. Relative contribution of water or sediment to amphipod toxicity associated with a large copper mine tailings impoundment breach in British Columbia, Canada ....................................................................................................... 12 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 12 Materials and Methods ............................................................................................ 16 Study sites .............................................................................................................. 16 Hyalella azteca culturing method ........................................................................... 18 Sediment exclusion water quality ........................................................................... 22 Metal concentration analysis of field collection of water, sediment, and amphipods .............................................................................................................................. 23 Results ...................................................................................................................... 27 Sediment exclusion ................................................................................................. 27 Site water, sediment, and amphipod ICP-MS and ICP-AES analysis ...................... 29 Discussion ................................................................................................................. 40 Conclusions ........................................................................................................... 47 CHAPTER 3. The single and combined effects of wood-fire runoff and sediment- bound copper on the freshwater amphipod, Hyalella azteca ...................................... 49 vi Introduction ............................................................................................................. 49 Methods .................................................................................................................... 52 Culturing Method ................................................................................................... 52 Artificial wildfire runoff preparation ...................................................................... 52 Copper-enriched sediment preparation .................................................................. 52 Toxicity Test........................................................................................................... 53 Whole Body Cu Analysis ........................................................................................ 54 Acetylcholinesterase analysis ................................................................................. 54 Water Quality ........................................................................................................ 56 Statistical Analysis ................................................................................................. 56 Results ...................................................................................................................... 57 Survival ................................................................................................................. 57 Weight ................................................................................................................... 57 Amphipods whole-body Cu concentration .............................................................. 57 Water Quality ........................................................................................................ 60 Discussion ................................................................................................................. 61 Survival, growth, and bioaccumulation .................................................................. 61 AChE activity ......................................................................................................... 64 Conclusions ........................................................................................................... 65 General Conclusions .................................................................................................... 66 vii References .................................................................................................................... 68 viii List of Tables CHAPTER 2 Table 2. 1. Water quality for H. azteca exposed to a sediment exclusion experiment. ..... 23 Table 2. 2. Water quality for sampling sites in Little, Bootjack, Polley, and Quesnel Lake .....................................................................................................................................