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Fish Health Altered by Contaminants and Low Water Temperatures Compounded by Prolonged Regional Drought in the Lower Colorado River Basin, USA
by
Steven L. Goodbred, Sr.
Steven L. Goodbred, Sr. 1,
Reynaldo Patiño
Reynaldo Patiño 2,
David A. Alvarez
David A. Alvarez 3,
Darren Johnson
Darren Johnson 4,†,
Deena Hannoun
Deena Hannoun 5,
Kathy R. Echols
Kathy R. Echols 3 and
Jill A. Jenkins
Jill A. Jenkins 4,*
1
U.S. Geological Survey, California Water Science Center, Sacramento, CA 95819, USA
2
U.S. Geological Survey, Texas Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Research Unit and Departments of Natural Resources Management and of Biological Sciences, Lubbock, TX 79409, USA
3
U.S. Geological Survey, Columbia Environmental Research Center, Columbia, MO 65201, USA
4
U.S. Geological Survey, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center, Lafayette, LA 70506, USA
5
Southern Nevada Water Authority, Las Vegas, NV 89106, USA
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
†
Current affiliation: Cherokee Nation System Solutions, Contractor to the U.S. Geological Survey, Wetland and Aquatic Research Center, Lafayette, LA 70506, USA.
Toxics 2024, 12(10), 708; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics12100708 (registering DOI)
Submission received: 19 July 2024
/
Revised: 11 September 2024
/
Accepted: 24 September 2024
/
Published: 28 September 2024
Abstract
The goal of this study was to assess health of male Common Carp (carp, Cyprinus carpio) at four sites with a wide range in environmental organic contaminant (EOC) concentrations and water temperatures in Lake Mead National Recreation Area NV/AZ, US, and the potential influence of regional drought. Histological and reproductive biomarkers were measured in 17–30 carp at four sites and 130 EOCs in water per site were analyzed using passive samplers in 2010. Wide ranges among sites were noted in total EOC concentrations (>10Xs) and water temperature/degree days (10Xs). In 2007/08, total polychlorinated biphenyls (tPCBs) in fish whole bodies from Willow Beach (WB) in the free-flowing Colorado River below Hoover Dam were clearly higher than at the other sites. This was most likely due to longer exposures in colder water (12–14 °C) and fish there having the longest lifespan (up to 54 years) for carp reported in the Colorado River Basin. Calculated estrogenicity in water exceeded long-term, environmentally safe criteria of 0.1–0.4 ng/L by one to three orders of magnitude at all sites except the reference site. Low ecological screening values for four contaminants of emerging concern (CEC) in water were exceeded for one CEC in the reference site, two in WB and Las Vegas Bay and three in the most contaminated site LVW. Fish health biomarkers in WB carp had 25% lower liver glycogen, 10Xs higher testicular pigmented cell aggregates and higher sperm abnormalities than the reference site. Sperm from LVW fish also had significantly higher fragmentation of DNA, lower motility and testis had lower percent of spermatozoa, all of which can impair reproduction. Projections from a 3D water quality model performed for WB showed that EOC concentrations due to prolonged regional drought and reduced water levels could increase as high as 135%. Water temperatures by late 21st century are predicted to rise between 0.7 and 2.1 °C that could increase eutrophication, algal blooms, spread disease and decrease dissolved oxygen over 5%.
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MDPI and ACS Style
Goodbred, S.L., Sr.; Patiño, R.; Alvarez, D.A.; Johnson, D.; Hannoun, D.; Echols, K.R.; Jenkins, J.A.
Fish Health Altered by Contaminants and Low Water Temperatures Compounded by Prolonged Regional Drought in the Lower Colorado River Basin, USA. Toxics 2024, 12, 708.
https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics12100708
AMA Style
Goodbred SL Sr., Patiño R, Alvarez DA, Johnson D, Hannoun D, Echols KR, Jenkins JA.
Fish Health Altered by Contaminants and Low Water Temperatures Compounded by Prolonged Regional Drought in the Lower Colorado River Basin, USA. Toxics. 2024; 12(10):708.
https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics12100708
Chicago/Turabian Style
Goodbred, Steven L., Sr., Reynaldo Patiño, David A. Alvarez, Darren Johnson, Deena Hannoun, Kathy R. Echols, and Jill A. Jenkins.
2024. "Fish Health Altered by Contaminants and Low Water Temperatures Compounded by Prolonged Regional Drought in the Lower Colorado River Basin, USA" Toxics 12, no. 10: 708.
https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics12100708
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