Using ordination and clustering techniques to assess multimetric fish health response following a coal ash spill

• Published in: Environmental toxicology and chemistry Vol. 33; no. 8; pp. 1903 - 1913
• Main Authors: Bevelhimer, Mark S, Adams, S. Marshall, Fortner, Allison M, Greeley, Mark S, Brandt, Craig C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Pensacola, FL Pergamon 01-08-2014; Blackwell Publishing Ltd; SETAC
• Subjects: Agnatha. Pisces; Animal, plant and microbial ecology; Animals; Applied ecology; Ashes; Biological and medical sciences; Canonical discriminant analysis; Chemical Hazard Release; Cluster Analysis; Clustering; Coal; Coal ash; Coal Ash - toxicity; Discriminant Analysis; Ecotoxicology - methods; Ecotoxicology, biological effects of pollution; Effects of pollution and side effects of pesticides on vertebrates; Exposure; Fish; Fish health; Fishes; Food Chain; food webs; Fresh Water; freshwater; Freshwater fish; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Health; health status; Hierarchical clustering; metals; Metals - toxicity; Multivariate analysis; Ordination; Spills; Tennessee; Toxicology; United States; North America; Tennessee; America; USA, Tennessee; Cluster analysis; Combustion residue; Discriminant analysis; Hierarchical classification; Canonical discriminant analysis; Coal ash; Biological indicator; Spill; Multivariate analysis; Hierarchical clustering; Freshwater environment; Pollutant; Vertebrata; Canonical analysis; Health status; Accident; Pisces; Ash; Coal power plant; Fish health; Environmental monitoring; Chemometrics
• ISSN: 0730-7268; 1552-8618
• DOI: 10.1002/etc.2622

The effect of coal ash exposure on fish health in freshwater communities is largely unknown. Given the large number of possible pathways of effects (e.g., toxicological effect of exposure to multiple metals, physical effects from ash exposure, and food web effects), measurement of only a few health metrics is not likely to give a complete picture. The authors measured a suite of 20 health metrics from 1100+ fish collected from 5 sites (3 affected and 2 reference) near a coal ash spill in east Tennessee over a 4.5‐yr period. The metrics represented a wide range of physiological and energetic responses and were evaluated simultaneously using 2 multivariate techniques. Results from both hierarchical clustering and canonical discriminant analyses suggested that for most species × season combinations, the suite of fish health indicators varied more among years than between spill and reference sites within a year. In a few cases, spill sites from early years in the investigation stood alone or clustered together separate from reference sites and later year spill sites. Outlier groups of fish with relatively unique health profiles were most often from spill sites, suggesting that some response to the ash exposure may have occurred. Results from the 2 multivariate methods suggest that any change in the health status of fish at the spill sites was small and appears to have diminished since the first 2 to 3 yr after the spill. Environ Toxicol Chem 2014;33:1903–1913. Published 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. This article is a US Government work and, as such, is in the public domain in the United States of America.