2023 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference

March 5-7, 2023 • Cincinnati, OH

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5/23/2018 | 10:15 AM - 10:30 AM | THE EFFECT OF DIFFERENT FISH PREDATORS ON RIPARIAN SPIDER MERCURY CONCENTRATIONS | 410 B

THE EFFECT OF DIFFERENT FISH PREDATORS ON RIPARIAN SPIDER MERCURY CONCENTRATIONS

The use of riparian spiders as tracers of aquatic contaminants (i.e. mercury and polychlorinated biphenyls) is limited by complex interactions that can affect the %-contribution of adult aquatic insects assimilated by these predators. The objective of this study was to determine if the presence of different fish predators impact the mercury concentrations in riparian spiders and if mercury measured in these riparian spiders exceed thresholds of concern. Three sites were selected in the Appalachian Mountains; two sites have a barrier separating downstream rainbow trout (Oncorhyncus mykiss) from upstream eastern brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) while the third site has sympatric populations of rainbow trout and eastern brook trout. At each site, spiders were separated by family, homogenized into three samples, and then analyzed for total-mercury (Upstream Tetragnathidae THg: 280.7 µg/kg ± 63.1 SE and Araneidae THg: 93.9 µg/kg ± 16.3 SE; Downstream Tetragnathidae THg: 196.7 µg/kg ± 16.6 SE and Araneidae THg: 110.0 µg/kg ± 21.7 SE). The different fish communities alone do not explain the differential export of mercury to riparian predators. At all sites spiders exceeded mercury risk threshold concentrations calculated for chickadee (Poecile spp.) nestlings.

Ecotoxicology
Non-point Source
Reciprocal Subsidies

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Presenters/Authors

Gale Beaubien (), Middle Tennessee State University, Gale.b.beaubien@gmail.com;