Roy J. Irwin, National Park Service with Assistance from Colorado State University Student Assistant Contaminants Specialists: Mark Van Mouwerik Lynette Stevens Marion Dubler Seese

from Rasmussen, C.E. 1988. The use of strontium as an indicator of anthropogenically altered environmental parameters. "Proceedings of the Sixth International Coral Reef Symposium," Townsville, Australia, 8th-12th August 1988. pp. 325-330. ISBN 0-7316-5607-5: The use of strontium levels precipitated into coral skeletal material has long been recognised as an indicator of oceanic temperature at the time of coral growth. Muir (1984) suggested anthropogenically induced factors on the nearby mainland may blur the temperature record. Further research indicates strontium concentrations within the aragonite skeleton are closely linked to use of agricultural fertilisers flushed from the nearby mainland. Elevated levels of phosphate are inversely associated with decreasing concentrations of strontium in the corals. Associated morphological alteration of the coral skeleton with increased levels of phosphate suggests strontium concentrations provide an excellent indicator of environmental stress related to anthropogenically induced elevated nutrient levels. The following abstract containing pertinent information on strontium was copied with permission of Cambridge Scientific Abstracts: AUTHOR: Beddington JR; Mills CA; Beards F; Minski MJ; Bell JNB TITLE: Long-term changes in strontium-90 concentrations within a freshwater predator-prey system. SOURCE: J. FISH BIOL.; vol. 35, no. 5, pp. 679-686; 1989 PUBLICATION YEAR: 1989 ABSTRACT: It proved possible to determine the levels of Sr-90 in the opercular bones of individual pike, Esox lucius, and in pooled samples of bones from perch, Perca fluviatilis. Results from both species from Windermere demonstrated that Sr-90 levels rose from below the detection limits in the 1940s to a peak in the 1960s, followed by a decline in the subsequent two decades. This decline was slower than would have been expected from the decline in northern hemisphere Sr-90 fallout, indicating the likelihood of recycling within the environment. Sr-90 levels were consistently lower in pike than in perch, their main prey fish. Thus, there is no concentration of Sr-90 up this part of the aquatic food chain. Tracking Sr-90 in bones taken in successive years from ages 3 to 8 for a single cohort of pike showed that the quantity of Sr-90 was closely related to opercular bone (and hence fish) weight. No significant increase in Sr-90 concentration in the bone with increasing age was demonstrated.