As
part
of
the
Water
Institute's WaterTalks
lecture
series Dr.
Karen
Kidd
will
present:
What
happens
when
fish
go
on
“the
Pill”?
More information
Natural and synthetic estrogens in municipal wastewater discharges are affecting sexual development and reproduction in fishes worldwide. It is unknown, however, if the feminization of male fishes from these releases affect population sustainability and whether there may be other indirect effects on lower-trophic-level organisms living downstream. This talk will describe a whole ecosystem study at the Experimental Lakes Area in northwestern Ontario, and how fish and other aquatic species responded to the additions of the synthetic estrogen used in the birth control pill, 17a-ethynylestradiol. Overall, results showed that estrogens in municipal wastewater have the potential to affect aquatic food webs both directly and indirectly, of which the latter is rarely considered.
Speaker Bio
Dr.
Kidd
received
her
BSc
in
Environmental
Toxicology
from
the
University
of
Guelph
(1991)
and
her
PhD
in
Biology
from
the
University
of Alberta
(1996).
Dr.
Kidd
is
an
ecotoxicologist,
studying
how
the
health
of
aquatic
organisms
and
food
webs
are
affected
by
human
activities
and
the
fate
of
pollutants
in
freshwater
ecosystems.
Dr.
Kidd
joined
McMaster
University,
Hamilton,
Ontario
in
2017
as
the
Jarislowsky
Chair
in
Environment
and
Health
and
has
a
joint
appointment
in
the
Department
of
Biology
and
the
School
of
Geography
and
Earth
Sciences.
Prior
to
McMaster,
Dr.
Kidd
lived
in
beautiful
New
Brunswick
and
worked
in
the
Biology
Department
and the Canadian
Rivers
Institute at
the
University
of
New
Brunswick
Saint
John.
She
was
a
Professor
of
Biology
and held
a Canada
Research
Chair in
Chemical
Contamination
of
Food
Webs
(Tier
II
2004-2014;
Tier
I
2015-17).
Karen
also
spent
6
fantastic
years
with
Fisheries
&
Oceans
Canada
in
Winnipeg,
Manitoba
as
a
Research
Scientist.
Dr.
Kidd’s
lab's
research
is
multidisciplinary
in
nature
-
a
combination
of
ecology,
biogeochemistry,
chemistry
and
toxicology
-
and
is on
lakes,
rivers,
wetlands,
and
coastal
zones spanning
tropical
through
Arctic
climates.
Her
field
and
lab
research
is on
how
industrial,
agricultural,
aquacultural
and
municipal
effluents
affect
aquatic
organisms
and
food
web
structure,
the
types
and
levels
of
legacy
and
emerging
contaminants
in
freshwaters
and
coastal
ecosystems,
and
why
fish
and
other
aquatic
life
from
some
areas
are
higher
in
contaminants
than
others.
Coffee, Tea & Refreshments Served