Use of White Sucker (Catostomus commersoni) Populations to Assess the Health of Aquatic Ecosystems Exposed to Low-Level Contaminant Stress

There is a need to develop inexpensive methods for evaluating contaminant impacts on aquatic ecosystems. This paper describes a simple, rapid, cost-effective mechanism for the in situ assessment of toxicant impact on fish populations. The framework assumes that changes in the death or birth rate, or alterations in the availability of food or habitat, are associated with characteristic responses of white sucker (Catostomus commersoni) …