US EPA

2198932 

Technical Report 

Lake Erie LaMP beneficial use impairment assessment: animal deformities and reproduction impairment 

Grasman, KA; Bishop, CA; Bowerman, WW; Ludwig, JP; Martin, PA; Lambert, L 

2002 

DART/TER/3001458 

NTIS 

NTIS/MIC103-00647 

93 pp 

eng 

Under the Great Lake Water Quality Agreement, Lakewide Management Plans (LaMPs) have been charged with evaluating impairments of beneficial uses of various natural resources caused by priority pollutants. This report assessed deformities and reproductive impairments in wildlife species of Lake Erie. Population-level impairments were covered in a separate assessment. Impairments were assessed using epidemiological criteria, species-specific biological criteria for deformity rates and reproductive success and species-specific chemical criteria for tissue concentrations associated with reproductive effects in field and (or) laboratory studies. Bald Eagles nesting within eight km of Lake Erie have impaired reproduction. The Ohio Lake Erie eagles remain below the recovery goal of 1.0 young fledged/occupied nest. Increases in the reproductive success of the Lake Erie basin Bald Eagle subpopulation may have been influenced by several factors that confound evaluation of contaminant effects. Hacking and fostering projects along the Ontario and Ohio shorelines during the mid-1980s introduced individuals that were not exposed to Lake Erie contaminants as embryos. The recovery of the Bald Eagle throughout North America has turnover of adults along the Ohio and Michigan shorelines of Lake Erie suggests the possibility of colonization of these territories by eagles raised elsewhere. Eagle eggs from the Ohio and Ontario shorelines of Lake Erie consistently exceed PCB and dieldrin criteria nad often exceed the p,p'-DDE criterion for adverse reproductive effects. The rate of deformities in Lake Erie eagles is greatly above the background rate for birds and is similar to the rate in cormorants in Green Bay, Which is among the highest reported rates for birds. PCB concentrations in eggs of fish-eating colonial waterbirds such as Herring Gulls. Common Terns, and Double-crested Cormorants consistently exceed levels associated with embryonic mortality and (or) deformities, especially in the western basin. DDE-induced eggshell thinning does not appear to be important at current levels of contamination for any of the colonial waterbirds examined. Some assessments of numbers of trapped mink suggest lower mink populations along Lake Erie compared to inland areas, but other assessments show little difference from inland areas. Data on Lake Erie mink tissue residues and food items indicate that wild mink are exposed to potentially harmful concentrations of PCBs. Otters were extirpated from the Lake Erie watershed by 1900 and there are no data to support or refute an association between PCBs and reproduction and population impairments in Lake Erie, although data from the other locations indicate a cause-effect relationship. Exposure to PCBs is often greater for otters than mink and otters may be equally sensitive to the effects of PCBs. Organochlorine concentrations in Lake Erie water snakes, eastern spiny softshell turtle eggs, and some snapping turtle eggs strongly suggest reproductive effects. The presence of p,p'-DDE in some amphibians from Point Pelee suggests that further study is required to determine the sensitivity to p,p'-DDE of amphibian species native to Lake Erie. Nitrate concentrations in agricultural watersheds of Lake occasionally exceed concentrations associated with mortality and reduced growth and development in laboratory studies of amphibian tadpoles. The use of TFM, which is intended to control larval lamprey, is likely to kill amphibians wherever it is used in Lake Erie tributaries. Deformity rates in mudpuppies at Long Point and in the Detroit River are elevated well above the background rates reported for inland areas of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River basin. A risk assessment using species-specific biomagnification factors was conducted to compare ambient water concentrations of PCBs to concentrations that have been shown to have no effect in laboratory and (or) field studies. For all species assessed (Bald Eagles, Herring Gulls, Double-crested Cormorants, Caspian Terns and mink), PCB concentrations in Lake Erie water were nine to 1,550 fold higher than no effect concentrations.