Understanding the responses of fish species to municipal wastewater effluents

鱼类物种对环境干扰的敏感性不同，这是由于与栖息地偏好有关的暴露差异以及物种之间代谢的可变性以及受生活史特征和繁殖策略的影响而引起的。许多监测项目侧重于数量丰富、分布广泛、易于捕捞的单一鱼种，很少有对不同鱼种的相对敏感性进行比较研究。直到最近，我的探索基金研究主要集中在纸浆和造纸废水、水电设施和农业作为压力源。城市污水是加拿大河流系统的主要输入来源，我的计划将转向这些污水，以提高我们对栖息地偏好、繁殖策略以及新陈代谢差异对暴露和对应激源反应的相互作用的理解。鱼类采集将与艾伯塔省、安大略省和新不伦瑞克大型河流系统现有的长期监测项目合作，并利用一系列相互关联的研究，将检查的物种数量扩大到目前监测项目中使用的物种数量，以努力更好地了解物种敏感性差异的基础。目标1将检查暴露、摄取和生理反应的差异，并比较不同繁殖策略的鱼类物种的反应，包括单一春季产卵、多个夏季产卵但产卵很少的物种，以及那些在阿萨巴斯卡河(AB)和大河(ON)产卵期延长的鱼类。为了消除流动性对暴露的混杂影响，这项研究将包括不同鱼类物种的一些短期同时暴露，以查看代谢能力和对暴露的转录反应，以更好地表征物种的敏感性。目标2将利用圣约翰河(NB)和阿萨巴斯卡河(AB)的长期研究，研究流动性、栖息地选择和喂养偏好的差异在影响城市污水排放相关化学品的暴露和吸收方面所起的作用。我的研究计划的长期目标是为了解采样时间、物种选择和终点确定提供关键的新知识，以帮助了解鱼类物种对城市污水的敏感性。总而言之，这些研究将检查全国20个鱼类物种的差异基础，试图开发一个物种对复杂应激因素敏感的通用模型。这一发现资助计划将提供一个激励性的培训环境，从本质上讲是跨学科的，在实践中是合作的，并以国家为重点。

Fish species differ in their sensitivity to environmental disturbance due to exposure differences associated with habitat preferences and poorly documented between species variability in metabolism, and influenced by life history traits and reproductive strategies. Many monitoring programs focus on single fish species that are abundant, widely distributed and easy to catch, and there have been few comparative studies examining the relative sensitivity of different fish species. Until recently, my Discovery Grant research primarily focused on pulp and paper effluents, hydroelectric facilities, and agriculture as stressors. Municipal effluents are a major source of inputs to Canadian river systems, and my program will shift to these effluents to focus on improving our understanding of the interaction of habitat preferences, reproductive strategies, and metabolic differences on exposure and responses to stressors. The fish collections will collaborate with existing long term monitoring programs in large river systems in Alberta, Ontario and New Brunswick, and use a series of linked studies to expand the number of species examined beyond those currently utilized in the monitoring programs in an effort to develop a better understanding of the basis for species differences in sensitivity. Objective 1 will examine differences in exposure, uptake, and physiological response, and compare the responses of fish species with differing reproductive strategies, including single spring spawners, multiple summer spawners with few spawns, and those with extended spawning periods in the Athabasca River (AB) and in the Grand River (ON). To remove the confounding effect of mobility on exposure, the research will include some short term simultaneous exposures of different fish species to look at metabolic capacity and transcriptomic responses to exposure to better characterize species sensitivities. Objective 2 will examine the role that differences in mobility, habitat choice and feeding preferences play in affecting exposure and uptake of municipal wastewater effluent-related chemicals, and utilize long term studies in the Saint John River (NB) and the Athabasca (AB). The long-term objectives of my research program are to provide critical new knowledge to understanding the timing of sampling, species selection, and endpoint determination to help understand fish species sensitivity to municipal wastewaters. In total, the studies will examine the basis for differences across 20 fish species across the country, in an attempt to develop a generalized model for species sensitivity to complex stressors. This Discovery Grant program will provide a stimulating training environment that is interdisciplinary in nature, collaborative in practice, and national in focus.