Journal article
Ecological evidence links adverse biological effects to pesticide and metal contamination in an urban Australian watershed
CR Kellar, KL Hassell, SM Long, JH Myers, L Golding, G Rose, A Kumar, AA Hoffmann, V Pettigrove
Journal of Applied Ecology | WILEY-BLACKWELL | Published : 2014
Abstract
Summary: Aquatic ecosystems near urban areas are often ecologically impaired, but causative factors are rarely identified. Effects may be revealed by considering multiple lines of evidence at different levels of biological organization. Biological impairment is evident in the urban section of the Upper Dandenong Creek Catchment (Victoria, Australia). We assessed whether episodic sewage spills or other pollutants were the cause of poor ecological condition in the stream. The evidence evaluated included chemical and invertebrate assessments, caging studies of mudsnails Potamopyrgus antipodarum, antioxidant biomarkers and endocrine disruption-related endpoints in fish (Carassius auratus and Gam..
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Funding Acknowledgements
The project was funded by Melbourne Water Corporation, and we thank Michelle Wotten, Alex Walton, Robert Considine and Erik Ligtermoet for their contribution. Our thanks to Debra Gonzago and Hai Doan for C.tepperi toxicity tests and Pei Zhang and AnhDuyen Bui for sediment pesticide analysis. We appreciate assistance with fishing from John McGuckin and Tom Ryan, field and laboratory assistance from Daniel MacMahon, Alexis Marshall, Minna Saaristo, Rebecca Brown, Mayumi Allinson, Melissa Gamat and Lee Englestad. We also extend thanks to reviewers who provided valuable comments on this article. Fish were collected under the Fisheries Victoria Collection Permits NP169 and RP998, and all procedures carried out on fish complied with University of Melbourne Animal Ethics guidelines, under approved project IDs 0911373.1 and 1011590.1.