Assessing the toxicity of Prince Edward Island stream sediments using Asian medaka embryolarval bioassays

Soil erosion and the sedimentation of streams have become major environmental concerns on Prince Edward Island (PEI). I conducted two experiments examining the potential toxicity of aquatic sediments. In the first experiment, I developed a methodology of exposing fish to sediment and assessed the relative toxicity of refrigerated and frozen sediments, both of which are commonly used storage conditions. Indian medaka (Oryzias dancena) embryos were used to conduct experiments on sediments collected from three sites on the Wilmot River (a watershed that contains mostly agriculture) and one site on the West River (a watershed that contains more forest than agriculture).

In the second experiment, Japanese medaka (Oryzias latipes) embryos were used to assess the relative toxicity of sediment from the Wilmot River sites, one control site on Priest Pond Creek (within a watershed containing little agriculture), and one control group containing only embryo-rearing solution. This experiment was conducted in order to determine if Wilmot River sediments are accumulating toxic concentrations of agricultural related contaminants. (Abstract shortened by UMI.).