Flowing down the river: Influence of hydrology on scale and accuracy of elemental composition classification in a large fluvial ecosystem

The Science of the Total Environment
Olivier Morissette, Pascal Sirois

Abstract

Trace metals found in the calcified structures of fish (i.e. otolith, scales and vertebrae) serve as proxies for the ambient water composition at the time of mineralization, and these trace metals are increasingly used as a tool for assessing population structure and the migratory patterns of fish. However, the appropriate scale (e.g. resolution) for such applications can be uncertain because of a poor understanding of the spatiotemporal variations of metal-to-calcium ratios (Me:Ca) in the studied watersheds. This study aims to assess Me:Ca spatiotemporal variability within the St. Lawrence River and nine major tributaries and evaluate the ability of random-forest models to correctly identify rivers on the basis of their elemental composition. We tested the influence of daily discharge on four measured ratios (Sr:Ca, Ba:Ca, Mg:Ca and Mn:Ca) to document local and regional trace element sources and dynamics. The four element ratios displayed a low spatiotemporal variation, reflecting a marked stability over time. We observed that most element- and tributary-specific concentration-discharge relationships were either not significant or showed a weak influence, thereby confirming a stable point source dynamic. The classification per...Continue Reading

References

Jul 22, 2011·Ecological Applications : a Publication of the Ecological Society of America·Lény MercierDavid Mouillot
Jul 19, 2012·Journal of Fish Biology·A M SturrockE Hunter
Jun 22, 2016·Journal of Fish Biology·C M JonesJ J Schaffler

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