WHY ARE THE PCB CONCENTRATIONS OF SALMONINE INDIVIDUALS FROM THE SAME LAKE SO HIGHLY VARIABLE

Authored by Charles P Madenjian, Stephen R Carpenter, PS RAND

Date Published: 1994

DOI: 10.1139/f94-078

Sponsors: United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Program

Platforms: No platforms listed

Model Documentation: Other Narrative Flow charts

Model Code URLs: Model code not found

Abstract

An individual-based model (IBM) was applied to the Lake Michigan rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) population, with the objectives of explaining the observed variation in growth and in polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) concentration within the population. When variation in prey PCB concentration was incorporated into the model, variability in PCB concentration among individual rainbow trout was fully explained by the IBM. Although number of spawnings and number of years spent in a stream prior to first entering the lake were factors in determining growth, these life history characteristics appeared to have only a minor impact on PCB accumulation rate in rainbow trout. The IBM application to the rainbow trout population was compared with an application to the Lake Michigan lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) population. Modeling results indicated that the lower observed PCB concentrations in rainbow trout compared with lake trout were chiefly due to greater longevity in lake trout. The IBM simulations identified gross growth efficiency, assimilation efficiency of PCBs from food, and diet as other important sources of variability in salmonine PCB concentrations.

Tags

Model Fish Michigan Polychlorinated-biphenyls Ontario Trout salvelinus-namaycush Accumulation Gairdneri Steelhead