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The Association Between Watershed Characteristics and Mercury Concentrations in Fish of Northern Ontario Lakes

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The Association Between Watershed Characteristics and Mercury Concentrations in Fish of Northern Ontario Lakes Lakehead University Knowledge Commons,http://knowledgecommons.lakeheadu.ca Electronic Theses and Dissertations Electronic Theses and Dissertations from 2009 2014-01-22 The association between watershed characteristics and mercury concentrations in fish of Northern Ontario lakes Danco, Victoria http://knowledgecommons.lakeheadu.ca/handle/2453/510 Downloaded from Lakehead University, KnowledgeCommons The Association Between Watershed Characteristics and Mercury Concentrations in Fish of Northern Ontario Lakes A thesis presented to The Faculty of Graduate Studies of Lakehead University by Victoria Danco In partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Biology January, 2013 © Victoria Danco, 2013 Abstract Many landscape, limnological, and ecological factors synergistically affect the mercury cycle and subsequently influence total mercury (THg) concentrations in fish. In Chapter 1, the associations between watershed and lake scale characteristics with THg in piscivorous fish are examined. ArcGIS was used to delineate the waterbody catchment area and extract waterbody catchment characteristics for 243 of northern Ontario’s lakes. Walleye (Sander vitreus, n= 121 lakes), lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush, n= 60 lakes), brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis, n= 18 lakes), northern pike (Esox lucius, n =107 lakes), and smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu, n = 37 lakes) were standardized to the mean length of the populations by using power-series regressions. Multivariate analysis (non- metric multidimensional scaling) and univariate analysis were used to determine the associations between total mercury concentrations in fish and watershed scale and lake scale variables. Watershed and lake chemistry characteristics poorly described the variability in THg concentrations. Forest harvesting and natural disturbance were not associated with fish mercury concentrations. In Chapter 2, the relationship between walleye (Sander vitreus) growth rates and mercury concentrations was evaluated. The von Bertalanffy growth model was used to standardize the age of walleye to the mean total length. Walleye populations with slower growth rates had higher THg concentrations (r2=0.333, p< 0.001), suggestive of growth efficiency. Moreover, abundance of walleyes was associated with the growth rate (r2 =0.136, p<0.0001). Concentrations of THg in piscivorous fish are attributed to physical, chemical, and ecological characteristics of lakes. It is likely that lake ecology exerts the strongest influence on high mercury concentrations in piscivorous species, masking the effect from from watershed disturbance. Lay Summary This thesis contributes to the body of research addressing mercury as a dangerous global pollutant as well as a harmful fish contaminant. In Ontario, mercury accounts for 86.2% of consumption restrictions from inland water bodies1. In the Boreal Shield where forest harvesting is a major landscape-scale disturbance, the connection between forest harvesting and mercury contamination of sport-fish is not well defined and requires further assessment. Forest vegetation and soil sequester and retain atmospheric and naturally occurring geologic mercury within their watersheds for long periods of time. Changes in watershed hydrology can cycle terrestrial mercury to the aquatic environment. While certain variables are known to influence the production and accumulation of MeHg in aquatic ecosystems, investigation of the relative importance of watershed and lake characteristics that simultaneously influence mercury contamination in freshwater fish is lacking. This paper specifically addresses the associations between lake chemistry, spatial characteristics of the lake and waterbody catchment environment, and biological relationships between the terrestrial and aquatic ecosystem in order to gain a better understanding of mercury contamination of sport-fish in connection with forest harvesting activities. 1 Ontario Ministry of the Environment. 2008-2009 Guide to Eating Ontario Sport Fish. Twenty-fifth Edition, Revised. Queen’s Printer for Ontario. Acknowledgements Above all, I would like to acknowledge Dr. Rob Mackereth for his continuous support and advice. I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to be a graduate student at the Centre for Northern Forest Ecosystems Research and to have met so many fantastic people over the years! In particular, I am extremely thankful for Darren McCormick, my mentor in GIS. I would like to thank my committee members, Dr. Peter Lee and Dr. Greg Pyle, for their advice and improvements to this project. A special thanks to Satyendra Bhasvar, Andrew Paterson, and Chris Mahon who helped me obtain copious amounts of fish mercury and lake chemistry data from the Ministry of the Environment database. A further special thanks to Kim Armstrong and Jeff Amos who helped facilitate this project by providing me with the Ministry of Natural Resources Broadscale Fisheries Data. I would like to thank Larry Watkins, who provided me with the provincial forensic forestry layers. I would like to thank James Cross, who helped me with obtaining outputs from the Historical Climate Analysis Tool. I would like to thank Dr. Ogle, Northland College, who helped me with R-scripting. Lastly, many unmentioned individuals who were involved in the MNR’s Broadscale Fisheries Program and MOE’s Provincial Sport Fish Contaminant Monitoring Program also deserve my appreciation since all their hard work in the field and the lab formed the roots of this project. ii Table of Contents Abstract ........................................................................................................................................ A Lay Summary ............................................................................................................................... i Acknowledgements .................................................................................................................. ii Table of Contents .................................................................................................................... iii List of Figures ............................................................................................................................. v List of Tables .......................................................................................................................... viii 0. General Introduction ...................................................................................................... 1 Mercury as a Global Pollutant ........................................................................................................ 1 Mercury Emissions ............................................................................................................................. 2 Natural Geologic Sources of Mercury .......................................................................................... 3 The Mercury Cycle .............................................................................................................................. 4 Contamination of Aquatic Ecosystems ........................................................................................ 7 Health Impacts and Human Fish Consumption Guidelines ................................................. 8 Northern Ontario Lakes and Fish Communities ................................................................... 10 Mercury in Fish of Northern Ontario ........................................................................................ 11 Thesis Objectives ............................................................................................................................. 12 Study Area .......................................................................................................................................... 13 1. Mercury Associations with Catchment and Lake Scale Variables ................ 15 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 15 Methods ............................................................................................................................................... 26 Study Lakes .................................................................................................................................................... 26 Geospatial Characterization of Waterbody Catchments ............................................................. 26 Lake Chemistry Collection and Analysis ............................................................................................ 31 Fish Sampling ................................................................................................................................................ 33 Standardizing Mercury in Fish Tissue ................................................................................................ 33 Statistical Procedure .................................................................................................................................. 34 Results ................................................................................................................................................. 37 Catchment Analysis .................................................................................................................................... 37 Fish Mercury Concentrations ................................................................................................................
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