Alteration of habitat, including pollution, is hypothesized as a major contributing factor to the global decline of populations of sturgeons [1-6]. Given their epi-benthic nature, sturgeon are potentially at risk of exposure to contaminants associated with sediments. In the Upper Columbia River (UCR), between Grand Coulee Dam in the USA and Hugh L. Keenleyside Dam in southern British Columbia, Canada, resides a population of fewer than 2500 white sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus) that have been experiencing poor recruitment for over forty years [4,7,8]. Although specific reasons for their decline are not fully understood, pollution has been hypothesized as a potential contributing factor to the observed recruitment failure [8]. Specifically, there are concerns that contaminated sediments in the UCR may be bioavailable to sturgeon and that early life stages, including the early hiding stage where fry are in proximity to sediments, may be at risk.

Citation: Vardy DW, Doering JA, Santore R, Ryan A, Giesy JP et al. (2015) Assessment of Columbia River Sediment Toxicity to White Sturgeon: Concentrations of Metals in Sediment, Pore water and Overlying Water. J Environ Anal Toxicol 5:263. doi: 10.4172/2161-0525.1000263

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