Living in a contaminated estuary presented by Alexander Rodriguez

1. Living in a Contaminated Estuary: Behavioral Changes and Ecological Consequences for Five Species
Judith S. Weis,Lauren Bergey, Jessica ReichmuthandAllison Candelmo

2. Authors
Judith S. Weis, PhD
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Jessica Reichmuth, PhD
Lauren Bergey, PhD
Allison Candelmo, PhD

3. Study
oHow pollutants found in estuaries affect behavior and diet on common estuary species?
oWhat are the mechanisms of action which lead towards this change in behavior and dieting patterns?
oHow this changes will affect the size and growth rates of the specimens?
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4. Locations
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Piles Creek
Hackensack Meadowlands

5. Locations
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Piles Creek
Hackensack Meadowlands
Heavy Industrialized
Sediments:
Lead: 200 ppm
Mercury: 5.0 ppm
Fishing Ban Area
Sediments:
Lead: 100 ppm
Mercury: 3.5 ppm

6. Locations (Clean)
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Tuckerton
Government Protected
Sediments:
Lead: 80 ppm
Mercury: 311 ppb
PCBs: 25 ppb
PAHs: 671 ppb
Informationretrievefrom: http://www.bgs.ac.uk/research/climatechange/coastpol/newJersey.html

7. Species
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Killifish
Grass Shrimp
Fiddler Crab
Bluecrab
Bluefish

8. Contaminants
−Metals
−Cooper
−Lead
−Zinc
−Cadmium
−Chromium
−Mercury
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−PCBs
−PAHs
−Dioxins
−Chlorinated Hydrocarbons Pesticides

9. Hypothesis Organisms in polluted environments would have reduced feeding and predator avoidance, which would lead to reduced growth and population size.
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10. Data (Killifish)
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Piles Creek:
−Lower activity
−Lower prey consumption
−Vulnerable to predation
−Abnormal Thyroid gland
−Abnormal Neurotransmitters (Serotonin)
−Ate 2 to 3 times less than non contaminated

11. Data (Fiddler Crab)
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Activity budget of Piles Creek (PC) and Tuckerton (TK) fiddler crabs in
the field sites.
Median sizes, interquartile range, range, and outliers (o)
for adult female fiddler crabs collected from Piles Creek
(PC) and Tuckerton (TK).

12. Data (Blue Crabs)
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Captureofjuvenilebluecrabs,killifish,fiddlercrabs,andmusselsbyHackensackandTuckertonadultbluecrabs.BlackcolumnsrepresentHackensack,whiterepresentTuckerton.
Diet of Hackensack and Tuckerton blue crabs collected in the field. Black columns represent Hackensack, white represent Tuckerton. Asterisk represent significant differences between the two populations in how much they ate of a particular food item.

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PCBs levels (ng/g) in mummichog Fundulus
heteroclitus (Fh) and menhaden Brevoortia
tyrannus (Bt) taken from the stomachs of
bluefish versus collected in seines or traps (field)
from the Hackensack Meadowlands (HM).
Asterisk indicates significant difference between
the PCB levels.
Data (Blue Fish)
Feeding by Hackensack-fed (HM) and Tuckertonfed (TK)
bluefish. Each bar represents the mean time taken
(seconds) to consume the entire ration (ration 1–3) of
mummichogs for the Tuckerton-fed and Hackensack-fed
bluefish. The mean is ± standard error of 16 timed
feeding trials. The bars with different letters are
significantly different.

14. Data Summary
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15. Future Projects
−Are organisms at higher trophic levels affected more than those lower down?
−Are certain taxonomic groups more successful under contaminant stress?
−Are certain traits associated with being more successful in contaminated areas?
−Are the particular contaminantsat a givensiteimportantin determiningwhich organisms are more susceptible than others?
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16. Questions
−Who do you think are the most affected prey or predators?
−What contaminants you think are more common for Puerto Rico?
−Where do you think the most contaminated areas of Puerto Rico are placed?
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17. Thanks for listening
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