Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: Pennsylvania
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

There is currently a paucity of information on the role of groundwater discharge into surface waters as point sources of contaminants from polluted aquifers. This is critical to understand because the use of groundwater seeps are important for smallmouth bass, particularly during spawning season, and there use is related to increased hatch success and survival of age 0 fish. In addition, previous work has shown smallmouth bass utilizing areas of groundwater upwelling for spawning in the Susquehanna River basin. Exposure to EDCs during this critical life-stage of egg development could have detrimental short- and long-term consequences on immune function and fish health. Therefore, the objective of this research is to investigate the role of groundwater as a point source of emerging contaminants to smallmouth bass in the Susquehanna River basin.