Abstract
The long-term response of diatom and chrysophyte communities to local PCB contamination was examined in an impacted and referencelake in northern Labrador. Beginning in the late 1950s, lake Saglek-2 (SK-2) received direct inputs of the contaminant in runoff, leaving a record of rising PCB concentrations in lake sediments. An examination of sediment samples spanning the past∼ 150 yr revealed chrysophyte and diatom assemblages characteristic of clear, slightly acidic, oligotrophic lakes, butsurprisingly little change in either community was observed through time. The lack of response may be explained by severalfactors. For example, elevated PCB concentrations in lake sediments may not reflect bioavailable concentrations in lakewater. Therefore, realized concentrations may be too low to exhibit detrimental effects in phytoplankton communities. Our findings do, however, have important implications for studies ofclimate change in circumpolar regions. First, we provide additional evidence that climatic change has been minimal in northern Labrador, in contrast to changes observed in other Arctic and sub-Arctic regions. Second, our findings support thenotion that recent, marked changes in species composition observed in other Arctic lakes are the result of recent climatechange and not caused by the contamination of lakes from the long-range transport of pollutants.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Barrie, L. A., Gregor, D., Hargrave, B., Lake, R., Muir, D., Shearer, R., Tracy, B. and Bidleman, T.: 1992, ‘Arctic contaminants: sources, occurrence and pathways’ Sci. Tot. Envir. 122, 1-74.
Betts-Piper, A. A.: 2001, ‘Chrysophyte Stomatocyst-Based Paleolimnological Investigations of Environmental Changes in Arctic and Alpine Environments’ M. Sc. Thesis, Department of Biology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, 207 pp.
Braune, B., Muir, D., DeMarch, B., Gamberg, M. Poole, K. Currie, R. Dodd, M. Dushenko, W. Eamer, J. Elkin, B. Evans, M. Grundy, S. Hebert, C. Johnstone, R. Kidd, K. Koenig, B. Lockhart, L. Marshall, H. Reimer, K. Sanderson, J. and Shutt, L.: 1999, ‘Spatial and temporal trends of contaminants in Canadian Arctic freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems: a review’ Sci. Tot. Envir. 230, 145-207.
Bright, D. A., Dushenko, W. T., Grundy, S. L. and Reimer, K. J.: 1995, ‘Evidence for short-range transport of polychlorinated biphenyls in the Canadian Arctic using congener signatures of PCBs in soils’ Sci. Tot. Envir. 160/161, 251-263.
Canadian Council of Resource and Environmental Ministers: 1986, The PCB Story, CCREM, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 32 pp.
Cronberg, G.: 1988, ‘Variability in size and ultrastructure of the statospore of Mallomonas caudata’ Hydrobiol. 161, 31-39.
Douglas, M. S. V., Smol, J. P. and Blake, W. Jr.: 1994, ‘Marked post 18th century environmental change in high-arctic ecosystems’ Science 266, 416-419.
Douglas, M. S. V. and Smol, J. P.: 1999, ‘Freshwater Diatoms as Indicators of Environmental Change in the High Arctic’ in E. F. Stoermer and J. P. Smol (eds), The diatoms: Applications for the Environmental and Earth Sciences, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 469 pp.
Duff, K. E. and Smol, J. P.: 1991, ‘Morphological descriptions and stratigraphic distributions of the chrysophycean stomatocysts from a recently acidified lake (Adirondack Park, N.Y.)’ J. Paleolim. 5, 73-113.
Duff, K. E., Zeeb, B. A. and Smol, J. P.: 1995, Atlas of Chrysophycean Cysts, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Netherlands, 189 pp.
Eakins, J. D. and Morrison, R. T.: 1978, ‘A new procedure for the determination of lead-210 in lake and marine sediments’ Int. J. Appl. Radiat. Isot. 29, 531-536.
Eisenreich, S. J., Capel, P. D., Robbins, J. A. and Bourbonniere, R.: 1989, ‘Accumulation and diagenesis of chlorinated hydrocarbons in lacustrine sediments’ Env. Sci. Technol. 23, 1116-1126.
Environment Canada: 2000, ‘A National Ecological Framework for Canada: Torngat Mountains’ http://www3.ec.gc.ca/?ecozones/
Environmental Sciences Group (ESG): 1997, ‘Environmental Assessment of Saglek, Labrador (LAB-2)’ Prepared for the NorthWarning System Office of the Department of National Defence (RMC-CCE-ES-97-4).
Fallu, M-A., Allaire, N. and Pienitz, R.: 2000, Freshwater Diatoms from Northern Québec and Labrador (Canada): Species-Environmental Relationships in Lakes of Boreal Forest, Forest-Tundra and Tundra Regions, Bibliotecha Diatomologica, Band 45, J. Cramer, Stuttgart, 200 pp.
Fallu, M-A., Allaire, N. and Pienitz, R.: 2002, ‘Distribution of freshwater diatoms in 64 Labrador (Canada) lakes: species-environment relationships along latitudinal gradients and reconstruction models for water colour and alkalinity’ Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 59, 328-349.
Fisher, N. S. and Wurster, C. F.: 1973, ‘Individual and combined effects of temperature and PCBs on the growth of three species of phytoplankton’ Environ. Pollut. 5, 205.
Fisher, N. S., Graham, L. B., Carpenter, E. J. and Wurster, C. F.: 1973, ‘Geographic differences in phytoplankton sensitivity to PCBs’ Nature 24, 548.
Glew, J. R.: 1988, ‘A portable extruding device for close interval sectioning of unconsolidated core samples’ J. Paleolimnol. 1, 235-239.
Glew, J. R.: 1991, ‘Miniature gravity corer for recovering short sediment cores’ J. Paleolimnol. 5, 285-287.
Gunkel, G., Mast, P-G. and Nolte, C.: 1995, ‘Pollution of aquatic ecosystems by polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB)’ Limnol. 25, 321-331.
Harding, L. W. Jr.: 1976, ‘Polychlorinated biphenyl inhibition of marine phytoplankton photosynthesis in the Northern Adriatic Sea’ Bull Env. Con. Tox. 16, 559-566.
Harding, L. W. Jr. and Phillips, J. H. Jr.: 1978, ‘Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) effects on marine phytoplankton photosynthesis and cell division’ Mar. Biol. 49, 93-101.
Jensen, J.: 1997, State of the Arctic Environment Report on Organochlorines: Arctic Case Study Prepared for the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) - Convention on Longe-Range Transboundary Air Pollution, Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, 30 pp.
Kattenberg, A., Giorgi, F., Grassl, H., Meehl, G. A., Mitchell, J. F. B., Stouffer, R. J., Tokioka, T., Weaver, A. J. and Wigley, T.M. L.: 1996, ‘ClimateModels - Projections of Future Climate’ in J. T. Houghton, L. G. Meira Filho, B. A. Callander, N. Harris, A. Kattenberg and K. Maskell (eds), Climate Change 1995: The Science of Climate Change, Contribution of Working Group I to the Second Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, pp. 285-357.
Kidd, K. A., Hesslein, R. H., Ross, B. J., Koczanski, K., Stephens, G. R. and Muir, D. C. G.: 1998, ‘Bioaccumulation of organochlorines through a remote freshwater food web in the Canadian Arctic’ Env. Pollut. 102, 91-103.
Kinloch, D., Kuhnlein, H. and Muir, D. C. G.: 1992, ‘Inuit foods and diet. A preliminary assessment of benefits and risks’ Sci. Tot. Env. 122, 247-278.
Knowlton, C. C.: 2000, ‘Spatial Distribution and Characterization of Polychlorinated Biphenyl Contaminated Sediment from Saglek, Northern Labrador’ M.Sc. Thesis, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, 84 pp.
Krammer, K. and Lange-Bertalot, H.: 1986-1991, ‘Bacillariophyceae’ in H. Ettl, J. Gerloff, H. Heynig and D. Mollenhauer (eds), Süßwasserflora von Mitteleuropa, 2 (1-4), Gustav Fischer Verlag, Stuttgart, 876, 596, 576 and 437 pp.
Kuzyk, Z. A.: 2000, ‘Bioaccumulation of PCBs from Contaminated Sediments in a Coastal Marine Ecosystem of Northern Labrador’ M. Sc. Thesis, Department of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Royal Military College of Canada, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, 85 pp.
Mahanty, H. K. and Gresshoff, P. M.: 1978, ‘Influence of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) on growth of freshwater algae’ Botan. Gazette 139, 202-206.
Muir, D., Braune, B., DeMarch, B., Norstrom, R., Wagemann, R., Lockhart, L., Hargrave, B., Bright, D., Addison, R., Payne, J. and Reimer, K.: 1999, ‘Spatial and temporal trends and effects of contaminants in the Canadian Arctic marine ecosystem: a review’ Sci. Tot. Env. 230, 83-144.
Muir, D. G. C., Omelchenko, A., Grift, N. P., Savoie, D. A., Lockhart, W. L., Wilkinson, P. and Brunskill, G. J.: 1996, ‘Spatial trends and historical deposition of polychlorinated biphenyls in Canadian midlatitude and Arctic lake sediments’ Env. Sci. Technol. 30, 3609-3617.
Muir, D. G. C., Wagemann, R., Hargrave, B. T., Thomas, D. J., Peakall, D. B. and Norstrom. R. J.: 1992, ‘Arctic marine ecosystem contamination’ Sci. Tot. Env. 122, 75-134.
O'Connors, H. B. Jr., Wurster, C. F., Powers, C. D., Biggs, D. C. and Rowland, R. G.: 1978, ‘Polychlorinated biphenyls may alter marine trophic pathways by reducing phytoplankton size and production’ Science 201, 737-739.
Overpeck, J. T., Hughen, K. A., Hardy, D., Bradley, R. S., Case, R., Douglas, M. S. V., Finney, B., Gajewski, K., Jacoby, G., Jennings, A. E., Lamoureux, S., Lasca, A., MacDonald, G. M., Moore, J. J., Retelle, M., Wolfe, A. P. and Zielinski, G. A.: 1997, ‘Arctic environmental change over the last four centuries’ Science 278, 1251-1256.
Pier, D. M., Betts-Piper, A. A., Knowlton, C. C., Zeeb, B. A. and Reimer, K. J.: ‘Redistribution of polychlorinated biphenyls from a local point source: Vascular plants as indicators of the Halo effect’ submitted to Arctic, Antarctic and Alpine Research.
Rouse, W. R., Douglas, M. S. V., Hecky, R. E., Hershey, A. E., Kling, G. W., Lesack, L., Marsh, P., McDonald, M., Nicholson, B. J., Roulet, N. T. and Smol, J. P.: 1997, ‘Effects of climate change on the freshwaters of Arctic and sub-Arctic North America’ Hydrol. Proces. 11, 873-902.
Rühland, K. M.: 2001, ‘Diatom Assemblage Shifts Relative to Changes in Environmental and Climatic Conditions in the Circumpolar Treeline Regions in the Canadian and Siberian Arctic’ Ph.D. Thesis, Department of Biology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, 265 pp.
Rybak, M., Rybak, I. And Nicholls, K.: 1991, ‘Sedimentary chrysophycean cyst assemblages as paleoindicators in acid sensitive lakes’ J. Paleolim. 5, 19-72.
Saulnier-Talbot, E. and Pienitz, R.: 2001, ‘Isolement postglaciere d'un basin c¸ Stier près de Kuujjuaraapik-Whapmagoostui: une analyse biostratigraphique diatomifère’ Geographique Physique et Quaternaire 55, 63-74.
Serreze, M. C., Walsh, J. E., Chapin, F. S. III., Osterkamp, T., Dyurgerov, M., Romanovsky, V., Oechel, W.C., Morison, J., Zhang, T. and Barry, R. G.: 2000, ‘Observational evidence of recent change in the northern high-latitude environment’ Clim. Change 46, 159-207.
Sorvari, S., Korhola, A. and Thompson, R.: 2002, ‘Lake diatom response to recent Arctic warming in Finnish Lapland’ Global Change Biol. 8, 153-163.
Thomas, D. J., Tracey, B., Marshall, H. and Norstrom, R. J.: 1992, ‘Arctic terrestrial ecosystem contamination’ Sci. Tot. Env. 122, 135-164.
Twitchell, K.: 1991, ‘The not-so-pristine Arctic: from plankton to polar bears, the food chain is contaminated by global pollution’ Canad. Geogr. 111, 32-34.
Wania, F. and Mackay, D.: 1993, ‘Global Fractionation and cold condensation of low volatility organochlorine compounds in polar regions’ Ambio 22, 10-18.
Wilkinson, A. N., Zeeb, B. A., Smol, J. P., Glew, J. R. and Duff, K. E.: 2002, Atlas of Chrysophycean Cysts: Volume II, Kluwer Academic Publishers, the Netherlands.
Wilson, S. E., Cumming, B. F. and Smol, J. P.: 1996, ‘Assessing the reliability of salinity inference models from diatoms assemblages: an examination of a 219-lake data set from western North America’ Can. J. Fish. Aquatic Sci. 53, 1580-1594.
Wolfe, A. P. and Perren, B. B.: 2001, ‘Chrysophyte microfossils record marked responses to recent environmental changes in high-and mid-arctic lakes’ Can. J. Botany 79, 742-752.
World Health Organization: 1993, Environmental Health Criteria 140: Polychlorinated biphenyls and terphenyls, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland, 682 pp.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Paterson, A.M., Betts-Piper, A.A., Smol, J.P. et al. Diatom and Chrysophyte Algal Response to Long-Term PCB Contamination from a Point-Source in Northern Labrador, Canada. Water, Air, & Soil Pollution 145, 377–393 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1023654105342
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1023654105342