RNA-sequencing to assess the health of wild yellow perch (Perca flavescens) populations from the St. Lawrence River, Canada

2018 ◽  
Vol 243 ◽  
pp. 1657-1668 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michel A. Defo ◽  
Mélanie Douville ◽  
Maeva Giraudo ◽  
Philippe Brodeur ◽  
Monique Boily ◽  
...  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Martin

Mercury (Hg) contamination of the St. Lawrence River along the Cornwall waterfront is the result of over a century of industrial inputs. Yellow perch (Perca flavescens) are contaminated above the consumption guidelines deemed safe by Health Canada in one of three contaminated depositional zones. Amphipods are crustaceans that play an important role in aquatic food webs, and a recent study of the diet of yellow perch showed that amphipods were the primary food source of yellow perch in these zones and that amphipods showed similar patterns of Hg contamination. However, not all Hg taken up by amphipods is bioavailable. That is, not all Hg is incorporated into the tissues and available for uptake by yellow perch. To determine if Hg analyses of amphipods are biased by Hg present in their gut contents, the rate of Hg loss was measured from the gut and tissues. Amphipods were collected in the field using artificial substrates. A sample was frozen immediately upon retrieval, and the remaining amphipods were kept in a sieve in a basin of filtered river water. Amphipods were then sampled over 16 days to compare Hg concentrations in gut contents and tissues before and after they were removed from the Hg source in the field. The data were used to estimate the portion of Hg bioavailable to yellow perch. This enables us to more accurately estimate the extent of Hg contamination that is moving through the Cornwall food web, leading to elevated concentrations in top trophic fish species.


1997 ◽  
Vol 54 (12) ◽  
pp. 2930-2946 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Ion ◽  
Y de Lafontaine ◽  
P Dumont ◽  
L Lapierre

Yellow perch (Perca flavescens) (n = 50) were collected from five geographic sectors between 1991 and 1992 to assess the spatial variability in trace metal and PCB (10 congeners) levels along the St. Lawrence River. Spatial differences among the five sectors were analyzed using two-way ANOVA and were significant only for PCBs. Both Hg and total congener concentrations were significantly and positively correlated with fish age, but not with mass or length. The relative proportions of the PCB congeners did not vary among sites. The bioaccumulation factor (BAF) of 3700 for total congeners compared favourably with previously reported results. Since 1975, Hg and PCB levels in St. Lawrence River yellow perch have decreased by factors of 2-3 and 30, respectively. Power analyses revealed that future monitoring studies may require large sample sizes to successfully detect the small spatial differences found for many contaminants. For example, to detect, at a power level of 90%, a 33% difference in Hg levels in yellow perch (i.e., the maximum difference found in this study) among the five sectors, 80 fish per sector would be required.


2014 ◽  
Vol 497-498 ◽  
pp. 307-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
Magali Houde ◽  
Maeva Giraudo ◽  
Mélanie Douville ◽  
Bérénice Bougas ◽  
Patrice Couture ◽  
...  

2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (18) ◽  
pp. 18211-18221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Audrey Bruneau ◽  
Catherine Landry ◽  
Maeva Giraudo ◽  
Mélanie Douville ◽  
Philippe Brodeur ◽  
...  

2010 ◽  
Vol 88 (3) ◽  
pp. 247-258 ◽  
Author(s):  
David J. Marcogliese ◽  
Claire Dautremepuits ◽  
Andrée D. Gendron ◽  
Michel Fournier

Parasites were examined in yellow perch, Perca flavescens (Mitchill, 1814), from four localities ranging in degree of pollution in the St. Lawrence River, Quebec, Canada, to examine the effects of the most prevalent parasite species on expression of biomarkers of oxidative stress. Various biomarkers appeared to be affected by the infection levels of Apophallus brevis Ransom, 1920 and genus Diplostomum von Nordmann, 1832. For certain biomarkers, interactions between infection level and pollution type were detected for A. brevis, Diplostomum spp., and genus Ichthyocotylurus Odening, 1969. Activity of glutathione reductase in gill tissue decreased with increasing numbers of A. brevis, but only at the two most polluted localities. Catalase activity in kidney increased with numbers of Diplostomum spp. at the polluted localities, but not at the two least contaminated sites. Results suggest that parasites may affect expression of biomarkers of pollution and that pathogenicity of parasites may be enhanced under polluted conditions. Exposure to contaminants appears to reduce tolerance, but not resistance, to parasites in yellow perch in this system. This type of immunosuppression may be widespread in polluted ecosystems.


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