Littoral sediment arsenic concentrations predict arsenic trophic transfer and human health risk in contaminated lakes.

ABSTRACT: Lake sediments store metal contaminants from historic pesticide and herbicide use and mining operations. Historical regional smelter operations in the Puget Sound lowlands have resulted in arsenic concentrations exceeding 200 μg As g-1 in urban lake sediments. Prior research has elucidated how sediment oxygen demand, warmer sediment temperatures, and alternating stratification and convective mixing in shallow lakes results in higher concentrations of arsenic in aquatic organisms when compared to deeper, seasonally stratified lakes with similar levels of arsenic pollution in profundal sediments. In this study we examine the trophic pathways for arsenic transfer through the aquatic food web of urban lakes in the Puget Sound lowlands, measuring C and N isotopes-to determine resource usage and

SUBMITTER: Hull EA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10586660 | biostudies-literature | 2023

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature