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Opportunistic disease in yellow perch in response to decadal changes in the chemistry of oil sands-affected waters
- Source :
- Environmental pollution (Barking, Essex : 1987). 234
- Publication Year :
- 2017
-
Abstract
- Oil sands-affected water from mining must eventually be incorporated into the reclaimed landscape or treated and released. However, this material contains petrogenic organic compounds, such as naphthenic acids and traces of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. This has raised concerns for impacts of oil sands process-affected waters on the heath of wildlife and humans downstream of receiving environments. The objective of this study was to evaluate the temporal association of disease states in fish with water chemistry of oil sands-affected waters over more than a decade and determine the pathogens associated with disease pathologies. Yellow perch (Perca flavescens) captured from nearby lakes were stocked into two experimental ponds during 1995-1997 and 2008-2010. South Bison Pond is a drainage basin that has received unextracted oil sands-contaminated material. Demonstration Pond is a constructed pond containing mature fine tailings capped with fresh water. Two disease pathologies, fin erosion for which a suspected bacterial pathogen (Acinetobacter Iwoffi) is identified, and lymphocystis (confirmed using a real-time PCR) were associated with oil sands-affected water exposure. From 1995 to 1997 pathologies were most prevalent in the South Bison Pond; however, from 2008 to 2009, disease was more frequently observed in the Demonstration Pond. CYP1A activity was 3-16 fold higher in fish from experimental ponds as compared to reference populations and this pattern was consistent across all sampling years. Bile fluorescence displayed a gradient of exposure with experimental ponds being elevated over local perch populations. Naphthenic acids decreased in the Bison Pond from approximately 12 mg/L to4 mg/L while naphthenic acids increased in the Demonstration Pond from 6 mg/L to 12 mg/L due to tailings densification. Temporal changes in naphthenic acid levels, CYP1A activity and bile fluorescent metabolites correlate positively with incidence of disease pathologies whereas all inorganic water quality changes (major ions, pH, metals) were not associated with disease responses.
- Subjects :
- 0301 basic medicine
Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis
Lymphocystis
Drainage basin
010501 environmental sciences
Toxicology
01 natural sciences
Mining
03 medical and health sciences
chemistry.chemical_compound
Fish Diseases
Water Quality
parasitic diseases
Naphthenic acid
Animals
Oil and Gas Fields
14. Life underwater
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons
Ponds
0105 earth and related environmental sciences
Perch
geography
geography.geographical_feature_category
biology
Acinetobacter
fungi
General Medicine
biology.organism_classification
Pollution
Tailings
6. Clean water
DNA Virus Infections
Iridoviridae
Fishery
Lakes
030104 developmental biology
Fresh water
chemistry
Metals
Perches
Oil sands
Water chemistry
Water Pollutants, Chemical
Acinetobacter Infections
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 18736424
- Volume :
- 234
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Environmental pollution (Barking, Essex : 1987)
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....5421644df834b7d47c4c17a3dcbca43e