Palak Vasudeva1, Colleen Jones2, David Powelson1 and Astrid Jacobson1

(1) Utah State University, Logan, UT, (2) Utah State University, Vernal, UT

BORON IN PARIETTE WETLAND WATER, SEDIMENTS, BENTHIC AND AQUATIC ORGANISMS

Water, sediment, benthic macro-invertebrates, fish and bird eggs were sampled in triplicate at 3 sites within 6 ponds, distributed along 4 units in the 24 wetland pond complex, from May-July 2014

Water Filtered through a 0.45 µm filter Persulfate digestion Total B determined by ICP-AES

Sediments Cored from 0-2 and 2-5 cm depths Sorbitol Extraction (Goldberg and

Suarez, 2014) Plant available B determined

colorimetrically (Azomethine-H)

Benthic macroinvertebrates Isolated from 0-5 cm sediment

layer or captured with light traps. HNO3/HClO4 digestion Total B determined colorimetrically

Fish Captured using seine traps 37 total samples, 4 species Total B analyzed at Texas A&M’s

Trace Element Research Laboratory (TERL)

Bird eggs One egg sampled per nest (54 eggs

total among 15 bird species) Total B analyzed by TERL

MATERIALS AND METHODS

BACKGROUNDThe Pariette Wetlands located in the Uintah Basin of northeastern Utah, is the largest US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) wetland development in Utah. The wetlands contain diverse vegetation and wildlife in an arid climate. Elevated Se and TDS concentrations in the wetlands required that numerous mitigation efforts and changes in land management practices were implemented. However, continued monitoring efforts indicate that at times concentrations of boron (B) exceed the total maximum daily loads developed to meet the US EPA’s water quality planning and management regulations (40CFR 130).

The objectives of the study were to 1) determine the distribution of B in the wetland ecosystem components: water, sediments, aquatic vegetation (in process), benthic macroinvertebrates and fish, and 2) estimate the hazard posed by boron in the pond waters and sediment to vegetation, benthic macroinvertebrates, fish and aquatic-dependent birds.

PARIETTE WETLANDS FOOD-WEB

Piscivorous Birds (Grebes)

Invertivorous Birds (Marsh wren, Black-necked

stilt, American avocet)

Omnivores Birds (Ducks, Geese)

Fish (Minnow, Sunfish)

Water Column Invertebrates

(Water boatman)

Benthic Invertebrates

(Snails, Amphipods)

Plankton Aquatic Plants

Surface Water Sediment & Detritus

B inputs to the wetland Irrigation return water Groundwater Run off

B outputs from the wetland Outlet into the Green River Evapotranspiration Seepage Volatilization

POND WATER CHARACTERIZATION

Desilt Felters Big Island Pintail Gadwall Redhead02468

101214

6.077.77 7.44

8.8910.09

14.25

ECe

(mS/

cm)

UNIT 1 UNIT 4UNIT 2 UNIT 3

POND pH POND pH

Desilt 8.3 Pintail 8.6

Felters 9.5 Gadwall 8.5

Big Island 8.7 Red Head 8.5

BORON CONCENTRATION IN POND WATER

The solid lines in the box plots correspond to mean boron concentrations in the pond water for all the units. The dashed lines represent the anticipated adverse B concentrations (A = concentration above which adverse effects are anticipated to aquatic plants, B = the concentration above which adverse effects are anticipated for fresh water fish and C = the lower limit of the NOAEL and LOAEL for Daphnia).

EXTRACTABLE BORON IN SEDIMENTS

BORON CONCENTRATION IN BENTHIC MACROINVERTEBRATES

Plant available Boron concentration was highest in Redhead pond located in Unit 4, towards the exit of the wetland complex

Plant available boron extracted from sediment samples collected at 0-2 cm and 2-5 cm depths.

Extractable B was highest in the surface layer in all ponds. There was no difference in extractable B concentrations between the 2-5 cm layer and the > 5 cm layer (data not shown)

The dashed line (0.6 mg/kg) represents the B concentration above which chronic adverse effects are observed for Chironomidae.

Desilt

Felte

rs

Big Isl

andPintail

Gadwall

Redhead0

1

2

3

4

5

6Inlet Interior Outlet

B co

nc, m

g/ k

g (d

w)

Unit 1

BORON CONCENTRATION IN FISH

Fish Species

0

5

10

15

20

Whole Fish B

Concentration (µg/g dw

)

n = 4

n = 5

n = 19

n = 9

Wetland Unit

1 2 3 4

0

5

10

15

20

Whole Fish B

Concentration (µg/g dw

)

n = 5

n = 13

n = 8

n = 11

CONCLUSIONS Pond Water: Boron concentrations in water increase in ponds near the outlet. All

concentrations exceed levels at which adverse effects to plants are expected, but below concentrations at which adverse effects to fish are anticipated

Sediments: Sorbitol extractable boron is higher in the surface (0-2 cm) sediment layer than in deeper sediments (2- 5 cm and >5 cm). The highest concentrations were observed at the end of the wetland complex.

Macroinvertebrates: MI analysis shows that some species may be sensitive to high levels of boron. Boron concentrations in taxa such Corixidae and Odonates were higher than in other species

Fish: Although mean fish concentrations were within the range reported for freshwater fish, certain species such as black bullhead catfish and green sunfish exhibited elevated boron concentrations .

Birds: No correlation was observed between the boron concentrations in the pond waters and the boron concentrations in American coot eggs.

BORON IN Fulica americana EGGS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSThere is no correlation between the concentration of B in the pond waters and the concentration in American coot (Fulica Americana) eggs.

The plot depicts the mean whole-fish boron concentrations in all the fish sampled per unit

The highest mean concentration of boron in fish is in Unit 3 (Pintail pond)

Whole-body samples of freshwater fish usually contain < 4 mg/kg boron indicated by the dashed line (Saiki and May, 1988)

Whole-fish boron concentrations differed by species

The highest boron concentrations were observed in Black bullhead catfish and Green sun fish.

Results of this plot suggest that some fish may be bioaccumulating boron from the pond water but detailed analysis is required.

Total B concentrations in the mixed MI samples tends to decrease along the wetland complex

B concentrations in the MI samples are affected by the dominant taxa in the ponds.

We thank Chris Cline (Department of Fish and Wildlife), John Isanhart (Bureau of the Interior) for their expertise and technical support. We also acknowledge the Utah Division of Water Quality for supporting the analysis of boron in the fish and bird egg samples, and the UAES for their research support (UTA01090).

REFERENCES

Desilt pond has higher populations of Corixidae, Physidae and Odonates than the other two ponds.

Felters and Redhead MI populations were dominated by Chironomidae (midges)

Taxa richness was low (< 13) in all ponds.

0 1 2 3 4 5 60

1

2

3

4

5

6Desilt Felters

Boron Conc in water, mg/L Bo

ron

Conc

in M

I, m

g/kg

(dw

)

Desilt Felters Redhead0.0

0.4

0.8

1.2

1.6

2.0 0-2 cm2-5 cm

Boro

n Co

nc, m

g/kg

(dw

)

2 3 4 50

1

2

3

4

5

f(x) = − 0.298901470464168 x + 4.25519117975925R² = 0.0681635083102478

B CONC in POND WATER, mg/L

B CO

NC

in C

OO

T EG

GS, m

g/kg

(dw

) Unit 1Unit 2Unit 4

Unit 2 Unit 3 Unit 4

H21D-1410

Goldberg, S. and Suarez, D. L. 2014. A new soil test for quantitative measurement of available and adsorbed boron. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 78:480–485.

Saiki, M. K. and May, T. W. 1988. Trace element residues in bluegills and common carp from the lower San Joaquin River California, and its tributaries. Science of the Total Environment, 74:199-217.