Recovery of fish populations in response to major infrastructure investments at municipal wastewater treatment plants

因市政污水处理厂重大基础设施投资而恢复鱼类种群

• 批准号: 463331-2014
• 负责人: Servos, Mark
• 金额: $ 13.57万
• 依托单位: University of Waterloo
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Strategic Projects - Group
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2015-01-01 至 2016-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=577048
• 关键词: Recovery; fish; populations; response; major

Concern over the potential impacts of wastewater across Canada has been heightened by recent reports of a variety of emerging contaminants of concern being released into the environment. These diverse chemicals have the potential to disrupt the normal function of endocrine systems and impair reproduction and development in fish and other organisms. Although considerable research has been focused on this issue worldwide, the chemicals and mechanisms responsible for the effects observed downstream of wastewater water treatment plant outfalls remains mostly undetermined. This proposal will examine the impact of major process upgrades at wastewater treatment plants in the Grand River, Ontario, on a sentinel fish species. Previous studies on rainbow darter (Etheostoma caeruleum) in this watershed have identified adverse biological impacts including altered gene expression, the occurrence of intersex (testis-ova), alterations in reproductive physiology (e.g. reduced gonad size and steroid production), reproductive performance (e.g., fertilization success) and community assemblages. Thus there is a multiyear baseline from which to make comparisons as upgrades are implemented over the next several years. This research will compare the responses in fish across these multiple levels of biological organization after process changes at several wastewater treatment plants within the same watershed. This will allow assessment of how various endpoints respond temporally and spatially to major changes in effluent quality. It will advance our understanding of the fate of contaminants (including endocrine disrupting compounds) and the linkages among various levels of biological organization leading to adverse outcomes that are key endpoints in assessing risk. Understanding of these processes and linkages are central to the development of predictive cumulative effects assessment frameworks for watersheds. The research will apply and assess the validity of emerging monitoring tools/approaches (e.g. next generation sequencing) that will allow water managers in many sectors to assess and prioritize stressors and remedial options for the future.

最近有报道称，各种新出现的令人担忧的污染物被释放到环境中，这加剧了人们对整个加拿大废水的潜在影响的担忧。这些不同的化学物质有可能扰乱内分泌系统的正常功能，损害鱼类和其他生物的繁殖和发育。尽管全世界对这一问题进行了大量研究，但对污水处理厂排污口下游所观察到的影响负有责任的化学物质和机制大多仍未确定。这项提案将研究安大略省格兰德河污水处理厂的主要工艺升级对一种前哨鱼类的影响。以前对这一分水岭的彩虹飞镖(Etheostoma Caeruleum)的研究已经确定了不利的生物学影响，包括基因表达改变、双性(睾丸-卵子)的发生、生殖生理的变化(例如性腺大小和类固醇产生减少)、生殖性能(例如受精成功)和群落组合。因此，在今后几年实施升级时，有一个多年基线可供比较。这项研究将比较同一流域内几个污水处理厂的工艺变化后，鱼类对这多个生物组织水平的反应。这将允许评估不同的终点如何在时间和空间上对流出物质量的重大变化做出反应。它将促进我们对污染物(包括内分泌干扰化合物)的命运以及导致不良后果的各级生物组织之间的联系的了解，这些不良后果是评估风险的关键终点。了解这些进程和联系对于制定流域预测累积影响评估框架至关重要。这项研究将应用和评估新出现的监测工具/方法(例如，下一代排序)的有效性，这些工具/方法将使许多部门的水资源管理人员能够评估未来的压力源和补救方案并确定其优先次序。