Reconnaissance of cumulative risk of pesticides and pharmaceuticals in Great Smoky Mountains National Park streams.

The United States (US) National Park Service (NPS) manages protected public lands to preserve biodiversity. Exposure to and effects of bioactive organic contaminants in NPS streams are challenges for resource managers. Recent assessment of pesticides and pharmaceuticals in protected-streams within the urbanized NPS Southeast Region (SER) indicated the importance of fluvial inflows from external sources as drivers of aquatic contaminant-mixture exposures. Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GRSM), lies within SER, has the highest biodiversity and annual visitation of NPS parks, but, in contrast to the previously studied systems, straddles a high-elevation hydrologic divide; this setting limits fluvial-inflows of contaminants but potentially increases visitation-driven contaminant deliveries. We leveraged the unique characteristics of GRSM to test further the importance of fluvial contaminant inflows as drivers of protected-stream exposures and to inform the relative importance of potential additional contaminant transport mechanisms, by comparing the estimated risks of 328 pesticides and pharmaceuticals in water at 16 GRSM stream locations to those estimated previously in SER streams. Extensive mixtures (31 compounds) were only observed in an atypical reach on the boundary of GRSM downstream of a wastewater discharge, while limited mixtures (2-5 compounds) were observed in one stream with elevated visitation pressure (recreational "tube floating"). The insecticide, imidacloprid, used to eradicate hemlock woolly adelgid, was detected in 8 (50%) streams. Infrequent exceedances of a cumulative ToxCast-based, exposure-activity ratio (ΣEAR) 0.001 screening-level of concern suggested limited risk to non-target, aquatic vertebrates, whereas exceedances of a cumulative benchmark-based, invertebrate toxicity quotient (ΣTQ) 0.1 screening level at 8 locations indicated generally high risk to invertebrates. The results are consistent with the importance of fluvial transport from extra-park sources as a driver of bioactive-contaminant mixture exposures in protected streams and illustrate the potential additional risks from visitation-driven and tactical-use-pesticides.

Physiological stress in native southern brook trout during episodic stream acidification in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Episodic stream acidification from atmospheric deposition is suspected to detrimentally impact native southern brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) in Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GRSM) headwater streams. To test the hypothesis that episodes of stream acidification cause physiological distress to native trout, caged fish at three sites were exposed to acid episodes during in situ bioassays conducted in June 2006 and March 2007. Stream pH decreased (>0.7 pH units) and total dissolved aluminum (Al(TD)) increased (>175 microg/L) at all three sites during acid episodes in both bioassays. Whole-body sodium concentrations were significantly reduced (10-20%) following the acid episodes, when preceding 24-h mean pH values of 4.88, 5.09, and 4.87 and corresponding 24-h time-weighted average Al(TD) concentrations of 210, 202, and 202 microg/L were observed. Lower whole-body sodium concentrations were correlated with elevated H+ and Al(TD) concentrations. Loss of sodium ions in native southern brook trout was consistent with physiological distress resulting from acid exposure reported in salmonids in other investigations. Further research is necessary to conclude whether acid episodes are responsible for extirpation of brook trout from headwater streams in the GRSM.