Organochlorine transfer in the food web of subalpine Bow Lake, Banff National Park

Abstract

Lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) from subalpine Bow Lake, near the Continental Divide in Banff National Park, have been reported to have higher concentrations of toxaphene than other lake trout populations of the Rocky Mountains. Our original hypothesis was that unusually high biomagnification via a long food chain was responsible for elevated levels of toxaphene and other persistent organochlorines in the lake trout. This hypothesis was refuted by the analyses of stable carbon (δ13C) and nitrogen (δ15N) isotope ratios in lake biota. Stable nitrogen isotope analyses demonstrated that the food chain length in Bow Lake was short. The sources of carbon (pelagic or benthic), as indicated by stable carbon isotope values, were highly correlated with organochlorine concentrations in the food web. Lake trout with more pelagic carbon signatures had higher organochlorine concentrations than littoral-feeding mountain whitefish (Prosopium williamsoni) and lake trout. The pelagic copepod Hesperodiaptomus arcticus had higher organochlorine concentrations (wet weight basis) than any other organism, including the fish. This was attributed to the high lipid content of copepods and possibly their ingestion of suspended solids, including glacial silt or direct absorption from solution in glacial inflows.