Heavy metal movement through insect food chains in pristine thermal springs of Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park thermal features regularly discharge various heavy metals and metalloids. These metals are taken up by microorganisms that often form mats in thermal springs. These microbial mats also serve as food sources for invertebrate assemblages. To examine how heavy metals move thro...
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PeerJ Inc.
2024-02-01
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| author | Braymond Adams John Bowley Monica Rohwer Erik Oberg Kelly Willemssens Wendy Wintersteen Robert K.D. Peterson Leon G. Higley |
| author_facet | Braymond Adams John Bowley Monica Rohwer Erik Oberg Kelly Willemssens Wendy Wintersteen Robert K.D. Peterson Leon G. Higley |
| author_sort | Braymond Adams |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Yellowstone National Park thermal features regularly discharge various heavy metals and metalloids. These metals are taken up by microorganisms that often form mats in thermal springs. These microbial mats also serve as food sources for invertebrate assemblages. To examine how heavy metals move through insect food webs associated with hot springs, two sites were selected for this study. Dragon-Beowulf Hot Springs, acid-sulfate chloride springs, have a pH of 2.9, water temperatures above 70 °C, and populations of thermophilic bacterial, archaeal, and algal mats. Rabbit Creek Hot Springs, alkaline springs, have a pH of up to 9, some water temperatures in excess of 60 °C, and are populated with thermophilic and phototrophic bacterial mats. Mats in both hydrothermal systems form the trophic base and support active metal transfer to terrestrial food chains. In both types of springs, invertebrates bioaccumulated heavy metals including chromium, manganese, cobalt, nickel, copper, cadmium, mercury, tin and lead, and the metalloids arsenic, selenium, and antimony resulting from consuming the algal and bacterial mat biomass. At least two orders of magnitude increase in concentrations were observed in the ephydrid shore fly Paracoenia turbida, as compared to the mats for all metals except antimony, mercury, and lead. The highest bioaccumulation factor (BAF) of 729 was observed for chromium. At the other end of the food web, the invertebrate apex predator, Cicindelidia haemorrhagica, had at least a 10-fold BAF for all metals at some location-year combinations, except with antimony. Of other taxa, high BAFs were observed with zinc for Nebria sp. (2180) and for Salda littoralis (1080). This accumulation, occurring between primary producer and primary consumer trophic levels at both springs, is biomagnified through the trophic web. These observations suggest trace metals enter the geothermal food web through the microbial mat community and are then transferred through the food chain. Also, while bioaccumulation of arsenic is uncommon, we observed five instances of increases near or exceeding 10-fold: Odontomyia sp. larvae (13.6), P. turbida (34.8), C. haemorrhagica (9.7), Rhagovelia distincta (16.3), and Ambrysus mormon (42.8). |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-07T22:44:52Z |
| format | Article |
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| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
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| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-07T22:44:52Z |
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| spelling | doaj.art-b30717b680724714ae9347d88869f57b2024-02-23T15:05:14ZengPeerJ Inc.PeerJ2167-83592024-02-0112e1682710.7717/peerj.16827Heavy metal movement through insect food chains in pristine thermal springs of Yellowstone National ParkBraymond Adams0John Bowley1Monica Rohwer2Erik Oberg3Kelly Willemssens4Wendy Wintersteen5Robert K.D. Peterson6Leon G. Higley7Department of Plant Pathology, Entomology, and Microbiology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, United States of AmericaDepartment of Land Resources & Environmental Sciences, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, United States of AmericaSchool of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, United States of AmericaYellowstone National Park, Gardner, MT, United States of AmericaSchool of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, United States of AmericaDepartment of Plant Pathology, Entomology, and Microbiology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, United States of AmericaDepartment of Land Resources & Environmental Sciences, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT, United States of AmericaSchool of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, United States of AmericaYellowstone National Park thermal features regularly discharge various heavy metals and metalloids. These metals are taken up by microorganisms that often form mats in thermal springs. These microbial mats also serve as food sources for invertebrate assemblages. To examine how heavy metals move through insect food webs associated with hot springs, two sites were selected for this study. Dragon-Beowulf Hot Springs, acid-sulfate chloride springs, have a pH of 2.9, water temperatures above 70 °C, and populations of thermophilic bacterial, archaeal, and algal mats. Rabbit Creek Hot Springs, alkaline springs, have a pH of up to 9, some water temperatures in excess of 60 °C, and are populated with thermophilic and phototrophic bacterial mats. Mats in both hydrothermal systems form the trophic base and support active metal transfer to terrestrial food chains. In both types of springs, invertebrates bioaccumulated heavy metals including chromium, manganese, cobalt, nickel, copper, cadmium, mercury, tin and lead, and the metalloids arsenic, selenium, and antimony resulting from consuming the algal and bacterial mat biomass. At least two orders of magnitude increase in concentrations were observed in the ephydrid shore fly Paracoenia turbida, as compared to the mats for all metals except antimony, mercury, and lead. The highest bioaccumulation factor (BAF) of 729 was observed for chromium. At the other end of the food web, the invertebrate apex predator, Cicindelidia haemorrhagica, had at least a 10-fold BAF for all metals at some location-year combinations, except with antimony. Of other taxa, high BAFs were observed with zinc for Nebria sp. (2180) and for Salda littoralis (1080). This accumulation, occurring between primary producer and primary consumer trophic levels at both springs, is biomagnified through the trophic web. These observations suggest trace metals enter the geothermal food web through the microbial mat community and are then transferred through the food chain. Also, while bioaccumulation of arsenic is uncommon, we observed five instances of increases near or exceeding 10-fold: Odontomyia sp. larvae (13.6), P. turbida (34.8), C. haemorrhagica (9.7), Rhagovelia distincta (16.3), and Ambrysus mormon (42.8).https://peerj.com/articles/16827.pdfBiomagnificationBioaccumulationExtremophileCicindelidae |
| spellingShingle | Braymond Adams John Bowley Monica Rohwer Erik Oberg Kelly Willemssens Wendy Wintersteen Robert K.D. Peterson Leon G. Higley Heavy metal movement through insect food chains in pristine thermal springs of Yellowstone National Park PeerJ Biomagnification Bioaccumulation Extremophile Cicindelidae |
| title | Heavy metal movement through insect food chains in pristine thermal springs of Yellowstone National Park |
| title_full | Heavy metal movement through insect food chains in pristine thermal springs of Yellowstone National Park |
| title_fullStr | Heavy metal movement through insect food chains in pristine thermal springs of Yellowstone National Park |
| title_full_unstemmed | Heavy metal movement through insect food chains in pristine thermal springs of Yellowstone National Park |
| title_short | Heavy metal movement through insect food chains in pristine thermal springs of Yellowstone National Park |
| title_sort | heavy metal movement through insect food chains in pristine thermal springs of yellowstone national park |
| topic | Biomagnification Bioaccumulation Extremophile Cicindelidae |
| url | https://peerj.com/articles/16827.pdf |
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