Aquatic Food Webs Lab

Project Overview

In July 2016, approximately 250,000 L of diluted bitumen (dilbit) was spilled from a buried pipeline and much of this oil reached the North Saskatchewan River.  This project examined long-term fish health in the vicinity of the spill by assessing concentrations of oil-related contaminants and various indicators of adverse effects on fish. Over two summers (2017 and 2018), at the spill location and sites upstream and downstream, we evaluated the structure of the fish community (tolerant vs sensitive species) and health of individual fish (presence of lesions, tumors, and breaks in DNA, and expression of proteins involved in detoxification). During 2018 and 2019, we tested the field-collected samples for concentrations of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons and other constituents in northern pike and in prey items in their food web.