Cameo

PCBs in the Last Frontier by Michael Tessmer

Part IV—Riddle Solved


Recent scientific studies have shown that sockeye salmon returning from the ocean to spawn in Alaskan lakes contain elevated levels of PCBs. After spawning the salmon die and their contents become part of the lake sediment and/or enter the food chain. The salmon are responsible for adding approximately six times as many PCBs to remote lakes as atmospheric circulation. The types of PCBs in the salmon also match those found in the ocean.

Question

  1. Imagine yourself as a scientist working on this issue. What would you want to look at next?


Originally published at http://www.sciencecases.org/last_frontier/last_frontier4.asp

Copyright © 1999–2010 by the National Center for Case Study Teaching in Science.  Please see our usage guidelines, which outline our policy concerning permissible reproduction of this work.