Pesticides in urban streams and early life stages of pacific coho salmon

Abstract

Pesticides are frequently detected in urban streams and are believed to be primarily the result of homeowner use. Although concentrations in most cases are low (<1 µg/L), there is concern that pesticide inputs threaten efforts to restore and enhance salmon habitat. The authors exposed early life stages of coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) to a pesticide mixture ("cocktail") representative of those pesticides most frequently reported in urban streams in western Washington State, USA. Life stages were continuously exposed to pulses of the cocktail simulating those in urban streams in fall and winter when coho salmon eggs and sac fry are present. Nominal concentrations of eight herbicides, two insecticides, a fungicide, and a breakdown product were the maximum detected. Fertilization, hatching success, survival, deformities, and growth of fry were not significantly affected. A reduction in fertilization success (19-25%) was not reproducible even when gametes were exposed to 100 times the maximum concentrations detected. Based on the end points examined in the present study, the results suggest that direct exposure to the pesticides most frequently detected in urban streams in western Washington does not impair early life stages of coho salmon and is not a major factor governing the recovery of salmon populations. The extent to which pesticide exposure would affect smoltification, outmigration, and ocean survival needs to be determined.