The Repository @ St. Cloud State

Open Access Knowledge and Scholarship

Date of Award

5-2017

Culminating Project Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Biological Sciences - Ecology and Natural Resources: M.S.

Department

Biology

College

College of Science and Engineering

First Advisor

Heiko L. Schoenfuss

Second Advisor

Jessica L. Ward

Third Advisor

Dalma Martinović-Weigelt

Fourth Advisor

Michael J. Ernst

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Keywords and Subject Headings

Multi-generational, Vitellogenin, Great Lakes, therapeutic hazard, c-start

Abstract

Complex mixtures of contaminants of emerging concerns (CECs) are present in many Great Lakes tributaries. Using existing chemical occurrence and concentration data for CECs from water samples collected in streams influenced by urban land use, the current study assessed how an urban-derived CEC mixture affected three generations of fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas) exposed continuously under controlled laboratory conditions. Mature and larval minnows were exposed to a CEC mixture comprised of: Galaxolide (synthetic musk), TBEP (plasticizer), Estrone, Bisphenol-A (plasticizer), DEET, Methyl-1H-benzotriazole (anti-icing agent), Desvenlafaxine (anti-depressant), Fexofenadine (allergy medication), Metformin (diabetes medication), and Nonylphenol. The medium mixture contained all of the above compounds at their highest environmentally measured concentrations, while the low mixture used 1/10th and the high mixture 10x that concentrations. F1 fish were exposed while sexually mature and produced F2 generation P. promelas, which were then exposed throughout their entire life cycle. F3 generation fish were exposed until sexual differentiation. A multitude of biological endpoints were measured to assess the effects of the urban CEC mixture on fish health and development. F1 minnows exposed to the urban mixture had higher plasma vitellogenin concentrations than control fish (mean: 2.73 ug/mL and 1.91 ug/mL respectively, ANOVA, p< 0.05). Exposure did not have a significant effect on body condition factor, gonadal somatic index, or hepatic somatic index. F2 larvae had a faster response to a predator stimulus than F3 larvae (p=0.0013). F2 larvae exposed to the high concentration were also larger (ANOVA, p = 0.01). F1 and F2 fecundity was greater in the low and medium treatments than those exposed to the high and EtOH control (Repeated-measures ANOVA, p

Comments/Acknowledgements

For my grandfather

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