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Piro AJ, Taipale SJ, Laiho HM, Eerola ES, Kahilainen KK. Fish muscle mercury concentration and bioaccumulation fluctuate year-round - Insights from cyprinid and percid fishes in a humic boreal lake. Environ Res 2023; 231:116187. [PMID: 37224941 DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2023.116187] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2023] [Revised: 05/04/2023] [Accepted: 05/15/2023] [Indexed: 05/26/2023]
Abstract
Boreal lakes demonstrate pronounced seasonality, where the warm open-water season and subsequent cold and ice-covered season dominate natural cycles. While fish muscle total mercury concentration (mg/kg) [THg] is well documented in open-water summer months, there is limited knowledge on the ice-covered winter and spring mercury dynamics in fish from various foraging and thermal guilds. This year-round study tested how seasonality influences [THg] and its bioaccumulation in three percids, perch (Perca fluviatilis), pikeperch (Sander lucioperca), ruffe (Gymnocephalus cernua), and three cyprinids, roach (Rutilus rutilus), bleak (Alburnus alburnus), and bream (Abramis brama) in deep boreal mesotrophic Lake Pääjärvi, southern Finland. Fish were sampled and [THg] was quantified in the dorsal muscle during four seasons in this humic lake. Bioaccumulation regression slopes (mean ± STD, 0.039 ± 0.030, range 0.013-0.114) between [THg] and fish length were steepest during and after spawning and shallowest during autumn and winter for all species. Fish [THg] was significantly higher in the winter-spring than summer-autumn in all percids, however, not in cyprinids. The lowest [THg] was observed in summer and autumn, likely due to recovery from spring spawning, somatic growth and lipid accumulation. Fish [THg] was best described by multiple regression models (R2adj: 52-76%) which included total length and varying combinations of seasonally changing environmental (water temperature, total carbon, total nitrogen, and oxygen saturation) and biotic factors (gonadosomatic index, and sex) in all species. The seasonal variation in [THg] and bioaccumulation slopes across multiple species suggests a need for standardized sampling seasons in long-term monitoring to avoid any seasonality bias. From the fisheries and fish consumption perspective in seasonally ice-covered lakes, monitoring of both winter-spring and summer-autumn would improve knowledge of [THg] variation in fish muscle.
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Affiliation(s)
- A J Piro
- Lammi Biological Station, University of Helsinki, Pääjärventie 320, FI-16900, Lammi, Finland.
| | - S J Taipale
- Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyväskylä, P.O. Box 35 (YA), FI-40014, Jyväskylä, Finland
| | - H M Laiho
- Lammi Biological Station, University of Helsinki, Pääjärventie 320, FI-16900, Lammi, Finland
| | - E S Eerola
- Lammi Biological Station, University of Helsinki, Pääjärventie 320, FI-16900, Lammi, Finland
| | - K K Kahilainen
- Lammi Biological Station, University of Helsinki, Pääjärventie 320, FI-16900, Lammi, Finland
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Taipale SJ, Rigaud C, Calderini ML, Kainz MJ, Pilecky M, Uusi-Heikkilä S, Vesamäki JS, Vuorio K, Tiirola M. The second life of terrestrial and plastic carbon as nutritionally valuable food for aquatic consumers. Ecol Lett 2023. [PMID: 37218115 DOI: 10.1111/ele.14244] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2022] [Revised: 04/23/2023] [Accepted: 04/27/2023] [Indexed: 05/24/2023]
Abstract
Primary production is the basis for energy and biomolecule flow in food webs. Nutritional importance of terrestrial and plastic carbon via mixotrophic algae to upper trophic level is poorly studied. We explored this question by analysing the contribution of osmo- and phagomixotrophic species in boreal lakes and used 13 C-labelled materials and compound-specific isotopes to determine biochemical fate of carbon backbone of leaves, lignin-hemicellulose and polystyrene at four-trophic level experiment. Microbes prepared similar amounts of amino acids from leaves and lignin, but four times more membrane lipids from lignin than leaves, and much less from polystyrene. Mixotrophic algae (Cryptomonas sp.) upgraded simple fatty acids to essential omega-3 and omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids. Labelled amino and fatty acids became integral parts of cell membranes of zooplankton (Daphnia magna) and fish (Danio rerio). These results show that terrestrial and plastic carbon can provide backbones for essential biomolecules of mixotrophic algae and consumers at higher trophic levels.
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Affiliation(s)
- S J Taipale
- Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland
| | - C Rigaud
- Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland
| | - M L Calderini
- Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland
| | - M J Kainz
- WasserCluster-Biological Station Lunz, Lunz am See, Austria
- Danube University Krems, Krems, Austria
| | - M Pilecky
- WasserCluster-Biological Station Lunz, Lunz am See, Austria
- Danube University Krems, Krems, Austria
| | - S Uusi-Heikkilä
- Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland
| | - J S Vesamäki
- Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland
| | - K Vuorio
- Finnish Environmental Centre, Helsinki, Finland
| | - M Tiirola
- Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland
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Taipale SJ, Peltomaa E, Kukkonen JVK, Kainz MJ, Kautonen P, Tiirola M. Tracing the fate of microplastic carbon in the aquatic food web by compound-specific isotope analysis. Sci Rep 2019; 9:19894. [PMID: 31882692 PMCID: PMC6934716 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-55990-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2019] [Accepted: 12/04/2019] [Indexed: 02/05/2023] Open
Abstract
Increasing abundance of microplastics (MP) in marine and freshwaters is currently one of the greatest environmental concerns. Since plastics are fairly resistant to chemical decomposition, breakdown and reutilization of MP carbon complexes requires microbial activity. Currently, only a few microbial isolates have been shown to degrade MPs, and direct measurements of the fate of the MP carbon are still lacking. We used compound-specific isotope analysis to track the fate of fully labelled 13C-polyethylene (PE) MP carbon across the aquatic microbial-animal interface. Isotopic values of respired CO2 and membrane lipids showed that MP carbon was partly mineralized and partly used for cell growth. Microbial mineralization and assimilation of PE-MP carbon was most active when inoculated microbes were obtained from highly humic waters, which contain recalcitrant substrate sources. Mixotrophic algae (Cryptomonas sp.) and herbivorous zooplankton (Daphnia magna) used microbial mediated PE-MP carbon in their cell membrane fatty acids. Moreover, heteronanoflagellates and mixotrophic algae sequestered MP carbon for synthesizing essential ω-6 and ω-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids. Thus, this study demonstrates that aquatic micro-organisms can produce, biochemically upgrade, and trophically transfer nutritionally important biomolecules from PE-MP.
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Affiliation(s)
- S J Taipale
- Department of Biological and Environmental Science, Nanoscience Center, University of Jyväskylä, P.O. Box 35 (YA), 40014, Jyväskylä, Finland.
| | - E Peltomaa
- Faculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Ecosystems and Environment Research programme, University of Helsinki, Niemenkatu 73, Lahti, FI-15140, Finland.,Institute of Atmospheric and Earth System Research (INAR)/Forest Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - J V K Kukkonen
- Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences, Kuopio Campus, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 1627, FI-70211, Kuopio, Finland
| | - M J Kainz
- WasserCluster - Biological Station Lunz, Danube University Krems, Dr. Carl Kupelwieser Promenade 5, A-3293, Lunz am See, Austria
| | - P Kautonen
- Department of Biological and Environmental Science, Nanoscience Center, University of Jyväskylä, P.O. Box 35 (YA), 40014, Jyväskylä, Finland
| | - M Tiirola
- Department of Biological and Environmental Science, Nanoscience Center, University of Jyväskylä, P.O. Box 35 (YA), 40014, Jyväskylä, Finland
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Taipale SJ, Vuorio K, Strandberg U, Kahilainen KK, Järvinen M, Hiltunen M, Peltomaa E, Kankaala P. Lake eutrophication and brownification downgrade availability and transfer of essential fatty acids for human consumption. Environ Int 2016; 96:156-166. [PMID: 27685803 DOI: 10.1016/j.envint.2016.08.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 76] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2016] [Revised: 07/24/2016] [Accepted: 08/22/2016] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
Fish are an important source of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) for birds, mammals and humans. In aquatic food webs, these highly unsaturated fatty acids (HUFA) are essential for many physiological processes and mainly synthetized by distinct phytoplankton taxa. Consumers at different trophic levels obtain essential fatty acids from their diet because they cannot produce these sufficiently de novo. Here, we evaluated how the increase in phosphorus concentration (eutrophication) or terrestrial organic matter inputs (brownification) change EPA and DHA content in the phytoplankton. Then, we evaluated whether these changes can be seen in the EPA and DHA content of piscivorous European perch (Perca fluviatilis), which is a widely distributed species and commonly consumed by humans. Data from 713 lakes showed statistically significant differences in the abundance of EPA- and DHA-synthesizing phytoplankton as well as in the concentrations and content of these essential fatty acids among oligo-mesotrophic, eutrophic and dystrophic lakes. The EPA and DHA content of phytoplankton biomass (mgHUFAg-1) was significantly lower in the eutrophic lakes than in the oligo-mesotrophic or dystrophic lakes. We found a strong significant correlation between the DHA content in the muscle of piscivorous perch and phytoplankton DHA content (r=0.85) as well with the contribution of DHA-synthesizing phytoplankton taxa (r=0.83). Among all DHA-synthesizing phytoplankton this correlation was the strongest with the dinoflagellates (r=0.74) and chrysophytes (r=0.70). Accordingly, the EPA+DHA content of perch muscle decreased with increasing total phosphorus (r2=0.80) and dissolved organic carbon concentration (r2=0.83) in the lakes. Our results suggest that although eutrophication generally increase biomass production across different trophic levels, the high proportion of low-quality primary producers reduce EPA and DHA content in the food web up to predatory fish. Ultimately, it seems that lake eutrophication and brownification decrease the nutritional quality of fish for human consumers.
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Affiliation(s)
- S J Taipale
- Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 111, 80101 Joensuu, Finland; Lammi Biological Station, University of Helsinki, Pääjärventie 320, 16900 Lammi, Finland; Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyväskylä, P.O. Box 35 (YA), 40014 Jyväskylä, Finland.
| | - K Vuorio
- Department of Biological and Environmental Science, University of Jyväskylä, P.O. Box 35 (YA), 40014 Jyväskylä, Finland; Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE), P.O. Box 140, FI-00251 Helsinki, Finland
| | - U Strandberg
- Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 111, 80101 Joensuu, Finland
| | - K K Kahilainen
- Kilpisjärvi Biological Station, University of Helsinki, Käsivarrentie 14622, 99490 Kilpisjärvi, Finland; Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 65, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - M Järvinen
- Finnish Environment Institute (SYKE), Jyväskylä Office, Survontie 9A, FI-40500, Finland
| | - M Hiltunen
- Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 111, 80101 Joensuu, Finland
| | - E Peltomaa
- Lammi Biological Station, University of Helsinki, Pääjärventie 320, 16900 Lammi, Finland; Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 65, 00014 University of Helsinki, Finland
| | - P Kankaala
- Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, P.O. Box 111, 80101 Joensuu, Finland
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Strandberg U, Taipale SJ, Hiltunen M, Galloway AWE, Brett MT, Kankaala P. Inferring phytoplankton community composition with a fatty acid mixing model. Ecosphere 2015. [DOI: 10.1890/es14-00382.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 64] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
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