Authors:

Penson Qunique

Date Created:

Not specified

Course Title:

Professor:

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About Paper:

Despite effluent from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) meeting EPA guidelines to support aquatic life, pollutants such as pharmaceuticals, heavy metals, and organic compounds are present in effluents and are discharged into surface waters potentially impacting aquatic biodiversity. The bluntnose minnow (Pimephales notatus) is a common species of the Chicago River and, while often regarded as pollution-tolerant, it can still experience sub-lethal effects from pollution. Moreover, this fish serves as host to parasites, including parasitic flatworms (i.e., trematodes). While ubiquitous and ecologically relevant, the role of fish parasites in modulating host responses to pollutants is rarely accounted for. As such, this study aims to evaluate the combined effect of WWTP effluent and parasitism on the condition factor of P. notatus. To this aim, we measured and weighed fish upstream (control site) and downstream (impact site) from a WWTP outfall. Preliminary results suggest that P. notatus at the impact site have a higher condition factor compared to fish from the reference site. Ongoing dissections confirm the presence of trematodes in the fish with infection intensities ranging from 3 to 479 parasites per fish. We expect that parasitism will have a detrimental effect on the condition factor of P. notatus and an interactive effect with WWTP effluent. Results will shed light into the roles of parasites in modulating ecotoxicological dynamics in freshwater systems.

Source:

DePaul University

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Co-authors:

Penson Qunique