Chronic Exposure to Polynuclear Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Natal Habitats Leads to Decreased Productivity and Fitness of Pink Salmon Populations ...

• Main Author: Heintz, Ron A.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: ASC 2005 - S - Theme session 2024
• Subjects: The sea and human culture and societies; Ecosystem observation, processes and dynamics; Pressures, impacts, conservation, and management; Pink salmon
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.17895/ices.pub.25350574; https://ices-library.figshare.com/articles/conference_contribution/Chronic_Exposure_to_Polynuclear_Aromatic_Hydrocarbons_in_Natal_Habitats_Leads_to_Decreased_Productivity_and_Fitness_of_Pink_Salmon_Populations/25350574

No abstracts are to be cited without prior reference to the author.The immediate and delayed effects of embryonic exposure to low levels of polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) reduce survival to maturity by 50% in exposed pink salmon populations, indicating that chronically exposed populations should rapidly decline to extinction. However, density dependence may prevent or delay extinction. This report measures the effects of chronic exposure on a simulated pink salmon population. The simulation uses empirically derived survival functions based on 70 years of observations of a single population. The survival functions are combined with the effects of embryonic exposure to PAHs on survival to determine how chronic exposure affects population productivity (median number of returns), fitness (median returns-per-spawner) and the probability of extinction over 35 generations. The PAH effects were observed among fish rearing in the same watershed as the modeled population. The resulting models predict that at ...