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Shoreline Spiders as Biosentinels of Mercury Contamination of Fish
Rightley, Madison
Rightley, Madison
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2015
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5/1/2015
Abstract
Mercury (Hg) is emitted into the atmosphere primarily from human sources such as coal-burning power plants. After Hg is deposited into aquatic ecosystems it is transformed by bacteria to an extremely toxic form, methyl mercury (MeHg). The primary pathway of Hg into humans is through the consumption of Hg-contaminated fish. Methyl mercury is hazardous to the health of humans. Because fish are difficult and expensive to sample, it would be helpful if there was a biosentinel species that could be sampled in a cost efficient way to predict the Hg contamination of fish. A biosentinel is a species that is used to monitor the overall health of an ecosystem and the presence of hazardous levels of contaminants such as Hg. Spiders have been hypothesized to have potential as biosentinels of the level of Hg contamination in aquatic ecosystems. Spiders feed on aquatic insects emerging from the aquatic systems, and therefore may have Hg concentrations that are correlated with the Hg contamination of the food web. In this study, I determined whether mercury concentrations in a shoreline spider species, the long jawed orb weaver (Tetragnathid sp.) was correlated with Hg concentrations in bluegill (Lepomis macrochirus). Bluegill is a game fish commonly found in farm ponds throughout the eastern U.S. Shoreline tetragnathid spiders and juvenile bluegill were collected from 12 ponds at the Eagle Mountain Fish Hatchery. The concentrations of Hg in spiders was positively correlated with the concentrations of Hg in bluegill, suggesting that spiders may have potential as a biosentinel of Hg contamination of fish in aquatic ecosystems.
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Biology