Response of bacteria and phytoplankton to contaminated sediments from Trenton channel, Detroit River

The effect of contaminated sediments on natural bacterial and phytoplankton populations from the Trenton Channel, Detroit river, was investigated in 1986/87 using several types of bioassays involving 3 different protocols, clean versus contaminated sediment, elutriate, and pore water. The procedures...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Hydrobiologia 1991-01, Vol.219 (1), p.281-299
Main Authors: MOLL, R. A, MANSFIELD, P. J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Applied ecology
Biological and medical sciences
Ecotoxicology, biological effects of pollution
Fresh water environment
Freshwater
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Invertebrates
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Summary:The effect of contaminated sediments on natural bacterial and phytoplankton populations from the Trenton Channel, Detroit river, was investigated in 1986/87 using several types of bioassays involving 3 different protocols, clean versus contaminated sediment, elutriate, and pore water. The procedures involved the measurement of tritium-labelled glucose and tritium-labelled adenine by bacteria and of carbon-14 labelled bicarbonate by phytoplankton in the presence of different amounts (0, 12, 120, 600, 1200 mg per litre) of Trenton channel and uncontaminated Michigan lake (control) sediments. Trenton channel sediments were heavily polluted with organics and metals, especially zinc, lead, and copper. Biomass uptake rate adjustments, necessary because biomass levels for bacteria and phytoplankton varied widely between the different bioassays, were made using acridine orange counts for bacterial and chlorophyll measurements for phytoplankton. Increasing amounts of sediment produced a statistically significant suppression of substrate uptake by bacteria and phytoplankton. At 1200 mg per litre of Trenton channel sediments, uptake was suppressed by up to 90 per cent for bacterial and 93 per cent for phytoplankton, compared to bioassays without sediment. Detroit river sediment suppressed uptake to a much higher level than control sediment. There was a statistically significant difference in suppression of uptake between the 2 sediment types for both bacterial and phytoplankton. There are 35 references.
ISSN:0018-8158
1573-5117
DOI:10.1007/BF00024761