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Puget Sound (puget + sound)
Selected AbstractsHarbor seals (Phoca vitulina) in British Columbia, Canada, and Washington State, USA, reveal a combination of local and global polychlorinated biphenyl, dioxin, and furan signalsENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY & CHEMISTRY, Issue 1 2004Peter S. Ross Abstract The harbor seal (Phoca vitulina) can serve as a useful indicator of food web contamination by persistent organic pollutants (POPs) because of its high trophic level, wide distribution in temperate coastal waters of the Northern Hemisphere, and relative ease of capture. In 1996 through 1997, we live-captured 60 harbor seal pups from three regions, spanning remote (Queen Charlotte Strait, BC, Canada), moderately industrialized (Strait of Georgia, BC, Canada), and heavily industrialized (Puget Sound, WA, USA) marine basins straddling the Canada-United States border. Biopsy samples of blubber were taken and analyzed for congener-specific polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polychlorinated dibenzo- p -dioxins (PCDDs), and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) by using high-resolution gas chromatography-high-resolution mass spectrometry. Harbor seals in Puget Sound were heavily contaminated with PCBs, whereas seals from the Strait of Georgia had relatively high concentrations of PCDDs and PCDFs. Pattern evaluation and principal components analysis suggested that proximity to sources influenced the mixture to which seals were exposed, with those inhabiting more remote areas being exposed to lighter PCB congeners (those with lower Henry's law constant and KOW) that disperse more readily through atmospheric and other processes. Total toxic equivalents to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo- p -dioxin for the PCBs, PCDDs, and PCDFs suggest that Puget Sound seals are at greatest risk for adverse health effects, and that PCBs represent the class of dioxinlike contaminants of greatest concern at all sites. [source] Partitioning of copper at concentrations below the marine water quality criteria,ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY & CHEMISTRY, Issue 5 2001Anthony J. Paulson Abstract Partitioning of Cu between the aqueous and particulate phases and among their components was examined in six ambient Puget Sound, Washington State, USA, samples (6,10 nM Cu). Most of the particulate Cu (4,12% of the total Cu) was associated with particulate organic matter, and resulted in distribution coefficients (Kd) ranging between 104,55 and 105,1. For the dissolved phase, the portion of Cu extracted by C18 -packed cartridges averaged 44% (+ 11%). Radioactive 64Cu was added to these samples to total stable Cu concentrations (17,33 nM). After 24 h of equilibration, the portion of 64Cu associated with the particulate matter in five of the six samples (Kd between 1047 and 1053) was an average of 70% higher than that of natural Cu in the ambient samples. In contrast, only 19 ± 7% of the 64Cu was extracted by C18 -packed cartridges. The partitioning of natural Cu and 64Cu onto particles was not significantly different when the equilibria were based on dissolved Cu passing through the C18 cartridges. Further research is warranted on utilizing the hydrophilic component of the dissolved phase as a parameter on which water quality criteria are based. [source] Site-specific marine water-quality criterion for cyanideENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY & CHEMISTRY, Issue 9 2000Kevin V. Brix Abstract A site-specific marine water,quality criterion for cyanide was developed for Puget Sound, Washington, USA. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) national cyanide water-quality criterion is driven by toxicity data for the eastern rock crab, Cancer irroratus, a species not resident to the U.S. western coast (West Coast). The reported LC50 for C. irroratus is six times lower than any other marine species tested. Cyanide acute toxicity tests were conducted using first stage zoeae of all four species of Cancer spp. resident to Puget Sound to develop a site-specific criterion for this water body. Testing with Puget Sound Cancer spp. reveals sensitivities 24 times less, on average, than C. irroratus. Recalculation of the Puget Sound water-quality criterion for cyanide, by substituting the new Cancer spp. data for the C. irroratus data, results in water-quality criterion protecting marine life against acute and chronic toxicity of 9.4 and 2.9 ,g/L cyanide, compared to the U.S. EPA national value of 1.0 ,g/L for both acute and chronic toxicity. [source] Predicting the probability of detecting organochlorine pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls in stream systems on the basis of land use in the Pacific Northwest, USA,ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICOLOGY & CHEMISTRY, Issue 4 2000Robert W. Black Abstract We analyzed streambed sediment and fish tissue (Cottus sp.) at 30 sites in the Puget Sound and Willamette basins in Washington and Oregon, USA, respectively, for organochlorine pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The study was designed to determine the concentrations of organochlorine pesticides and PCBs in fish tissue and sediment by land use within these basins and to develop an empirical relation between land use and the probability of detecting these compounds in fish tissue or sediment. We identified 14 organochlorines in fish tissue and sediment; three compounds were unique to either fish tissue or sediment samples. The highest number of organochlorines detected in both fish tissue and streambed sediment was at those sites located in watersheds dominated by urban land uses. Using logistic regression, we found a significant relation between percentage agriculture and urban land use and organochlorines in fish tissue. The results of this study indicate that organochlorine pesticides and PCBs are still found in fish tissues and bed sediments in these two basins. In addition, we produced statistically significant models capable of predicting the probability of detecting specific organochlorines in fish on the basis of land use. Although the presented models are specific to the two study basins, the modeling approach could be applied to other basins as well. [source] Life history of Littorina scutulata and L. plena, sibling gastropod species with planktotrophic larvaeINVERTEBRATE BIOLOGY, Issue 1 2002Paul A. Hohenlohe Abstract. The intertidal, sibling species Littorina scutulata and L. plena (Gastropoda, Proso-branchia) are sympatric throughout most of their ranges along the Pacific coast of North America. Both species release disc-shaped, planktonic egg capsules from which planktotrophic veliger larvae hatch. Here I review existing data and present new observations on these species' life history, including age at first reproduction, spawning season, maximum fecundity rates, capsule morphology, egg size and number, pre-hatching development, larval growth at three food concentrations, potential settlement cues, planktonic period, and protoconch size. Previous classification of egg capsule morphologies used to distinguish the species is inaccurate; instead, capsules can be categorized into three types of which each species may produce two. Females of L. scutulata produced capsules with either two rims of unequal diameter or one rim, while females of L. plena produced capsules with one rim or two rims of nearly equal diameter. Females of each species spawned sporadically from early spring to early fall in Puget Sound. Larvae of L. plena hatched one day earlier than those of L. scutulata, and both species grew fastest in the laboratory at intermediate food concentrations. Larvae metamorphosed in the presence of a variety of materials collected from their adult habitat, including conspecific adults, algae, rocks, and barnacle tests. This is the first report of planktotrophic larvae in this genus metamorphosing in the laboratory. The total planktonic period of 8 larvae of L. scutulata raised in the laboratory was 37,70 days, and a single larva of L. plena metamorphosed after 62 days. Protoconch diameter of shells collected from the field was 256,436 ,m and did not differ significantly between the species. Previous allozyme and mitochondrial DNA work has suggested high levels of genetic variability in both species and greater genetic population structure in L. plena, despite the long spawning season and long-lived larvae in both species. The interspecific life history differences described here appear insufficient to produce consistent differences in gene flow patterns. [source] Long-term effects of translocation and release numbers on fine-scale population structure among coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch)MOLECULAR ECOLOGY, Issue 12 2007WILLIAM H. ELDRIDGE Abstract Management actions, such as translocations, reintroductions and supportive breeding, can have both negative and positive effects on population recovery. Several studies have examined the incidence of introgression following such actions, but few studies have explored the effect of release numbers on gene flow between closely related recipient populations. We examined population structure of coho salmon in Puget Sound (Washington State, USA) to evaluate the relationship between the number of individuals transferred between rivers, and the number released within rivers, on inter- and intrariver population divergence. Eleven microsatellite loci were surveyed in 23 hatchery and wild samples collected from 11 rivers within and one hatchery outside Puget Sound. Pairwise genetic divergences between most populations were significant, but the population structure could not be explained by an isolation-by-distance model (Mantel test, P > 0.05). In contrast, we detected significant hatchery influence on population structure. The numbers of fish transferred among rivers between 1952 and 2004 was negatively correlated with differentiation between rivers (partial Mantel test, P = 0.005) but not within rivers (t -test, P = 0.41). Number of fish released from hatcheries that collect broodstock locally was negatively correlated with population structure within rivers (t -test P = 0.002), and between nearby rivers (partial Mantel P = 0.04). Our results indicate that the population structure can, to some degree, be altered by the number of individuals transferred and by local release number of individuals in ongoing artificial propagation programs. The findings presented here emphasize the need to control the number of individuals that are either inadvertently introduced, or are deliberately released under conservation scenarios. [source] Twenty-one novel microsatellite DNA loci isolated from the Puget Sound white-crowned sparrow, Zonotrichia leucophrys pugetensisMOLECULAR ECOLOGY RESOURCES, Issue 3 2009ANGELIKA POESEL Abstract The white-crowned sparrow, Zonotrichia leucophrys, has served as a model species for studies of song and reproductive physiology. Here, we describe primers for 21 novel microsatellite loci isolated from the Puget Sound subspecies, Zonotrichia leucophrys pugetensis, which will be useful for parentage and population genetic analyses. Based on genotypes from seven to 22 adult birds from one population, the average number of alleles per locus was 10.9 (four to 21 alleles) and observed heterozygosity varied from 0.50 to 1.00. All loci also amplified products in at least one of three other passerine species tested. [source] Factors influencing densities of non-indigenous species in the ballast water of ships arriving at ports in Puget Sound, Washington, United StatesAQUATIC CONSERVATION: MARINE AND FRESHWATER ECOSYSTEMS, Issue 3 2009Jeffery R. Cordell Abstract 1.Oceanographic characteristics and the presence of international shipping in Puget Sound, Washington, USA contribute to its vulnerability to non-indigenous species (NIS) invasions. To evaluate NIS arriving in ballast water, zooplankton was sampled in 380 ballast tanks of ships after they entered Puget Sound. 2.Taxa were classified into a higher risk group of coastal organisms (including known NIS), and a lower risk group of largely oceanic species. Most ships reported conducting mid-ocean ballast water exchange (BWE). However, despite state regulations requiring BWE, and apparent compliance by ship operators, most sampled tanks from both transpacific and coastal routes had coastal zooplankton densities exceeding internationally proposed discharge standards. 3.BWE efficiency models and controlled before-and-after BWE experiments indicate that BWE consistently removes most coastal zooplankton. However, this study found that although the empty,refill method of BWE significantly reduced coastal plankton compared with un-exchanged tanks, the flow-through method did not, and in either case remaining coastal plankton densities presented appreciable risks of introducing NIS. 4.Densities of high risk taxa were consistently and significantly higher from US domestic trips dominated by tank ships carrying ballast water from California, and lower in samples from trans-Pacific trips dominated by container ships and bulk carriers with ballast from Asia. These findings are probably a result of the dense and diverse NIS assemblages present in California and other US west coast estuaries and the comparatively short transit times between them and Puget Sound. 5.While it appears that BWE can effectively replace NIS with less risky ocean species, new reporting, verification, and operational procedures may be necessary to enhance BWE efficacy. In the long-term, the introduction of ballast water treatment technologies may be required to significantly reduce the discharge of risky organisms from commercial ships if BWE practices do not become more effective. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] | ||||||||||