title: Heavy metal contents in whitefish (Coregonus lavaretus) along a pollution gradient in a subarctic watercourse.
abstract: Metallurgic industry is a source of serious environmental pollution related to the emission of heavy metals. Freshwater systems are focal points for pollution, acting as sinks for contaminants that may end up in fish and humans. The Pasvik watercourse in the border area between Finland, Norway and Russia is located in the vicinity of the Pechenganickel metallurgic enterprises, and the lower part of the watershed drains the Nikel smelters directly through Lake Kuetsjarvi. Heavy metal (Ni, Cu, Cd, Zn, Pb and Hg) concentrations in environment (water and sediments) and whitefish Coregonus lavaretus tissue (gills, liver, kidney and muscle) were contrasted between five lake localities situated along a spatial gradient of increasing distance (5-100 km) to the smelters. The heavy metal concentrations, in particular Ni, Cu and Cd, were highly elevated in Kuetsjarvi, but steeply declined with increasing distance to the smelters and were moderate or low in the other four localities. The study demonstrates that the majority of metal emissions and runoffs are deposited near the pollution source, and only moderate amounts of the heavy metal contaminants seem to be transported at further distances. Bioaccumulation of Hg occurred in all investigated tissues, and higher Hg concentrations in planktivorous versus benthivorous whitefish furthermore indicated that pelagic foraging is associated with higher levels of Hg biomagnification. Potential population ecology impacts of high heavy metal contaminations where mainly observed in whitefish in Kuetsjarvi, which showed depletions in growth rate, condition factor and size and age at maturation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, Faculty of Biosciences, Fisheries and Economics, University of Tromsø, 9037 Tromsø, Norway. per-arne.amundsen@uit.no
authors.forename: Per-Arne
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Amundsen
authors.forename: Nikolay A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Kashulin
authors.forename: Petr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Terentjev
authors.forename: Karl Øystein
authors.initials: KØ
authors.lastname: Gjelland
authors.forename: Irina M
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Koroleva
authors.forename: Vladimir A
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Dauvalter
authors.forename: Sergey
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sandimirov
authors.forename: Alexander
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kashulin
authors.forename: Rune
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Knudsen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D005618:Fresh Water / Q000737:chemistry; D019015:Geologic Sediments / Q000737:chemistry; D008669:Metallurgy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D012487:Salmonidae / Q000378:metabolism*; D012537:Scandinavian and Nordic Countries; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D014877:Water Pollution, Chemical / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
chemical_list: D019216:Metals, Heavy; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical