HR: 09:30h
AN: NB41A-05    [Abstracts]
TI: Benthic Algal Community Structure and Bioaccumulation of Mercury in a Coastal Watershed
AU: * Novoveska, L
EM: cgln@eiu.edu
AF: Department of Biological Sciences, Eastern Illinois University, 600 Lincoln Avenue, Charleston, IL 61920 United States
AU: Phipps, S W
AF: Weeks Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, 11300 US Highway 98, Fairhope, AL 36532 United States
AU: Liu, P P
EM: cfpl@eiu.edu
AF: School of Technology, Eastern Illinois University, 600 Lincoln Avenue, Charleston, IL 61920 United States
AU: Pederson, C L
EM: cfclp1@eiu.edu
AF: Department of Biological Sciences, Eastern Illinois University, 600 Lincoln Avenue, Charleston, IL 61920 United States
AB: Largemouth bass in the Fish River watershed of coastal Alabama contain relatively high concentrations of mercury, the source of which is unknown. We used benthic microalgal assemblages in effort to describe spatial distribution of mercury in the Fish River and its tributaries. Artificial substrates were deployed for 3-week exposure periods at 13 sites on 4 separate occasions. When analyzed by cold vapor atomic absorption spectroscopy, mercury concentrations in periphyton ranged from 0.066 μg/g (Pensacola Branch) to 0.493 μg/g (Barner Branch). Principal Components Analysis indicates that physical and chemical heterogeneity exists throughout the watershed and is correlated with agricultural and urban land use categories. Physical and chemical heterogeneity of stream sites, variability in land use/land cover, and mercury content of periphyton all are reflected in the diatom assemblages which were found to characterize each site. Gomphonema parvulum was cosmopolitan throughout the watershed and therefore deemed suitable for assessment of mercury contamination. However, mercury was not detected in G. parvulum when individual cells of from each site were observed using a Scannning Electron Microscope equipped with an Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectrometer.
DE: 1871 Surface water quality
SC: North American Benthological Society [NB]
MN: 2005 Joint Assembly