A Washington State University researcher says in a new report in
the journal Ecological Applications that minute amounts of
copper from mining operations can affect salmon in a way the
results in them being eaten easily by predators. Jenifer
McIntyre, a postdoctoral research associate in WSU’s Puyallup
Research and Extension Center, said she found the metal affects
salmon’s sense of smell so much that they won’t detect a
compound that ordinarily alerts them to be still and wary. Her
research was conducted for a University of Washington doctorate
with colleagues at UW and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration. “My paper builds off of a large body of
literature on this topic, mostly led by NOAA scientists,” she
said in an interview July 16. Earlier research showed that
copper is neurotoxic to a fish’s sense of smell. Other research
showed that when a salmon’s sense of smell is affected, its
behavior changes. McIntyre put the two together, exposing
juvenile coho salmon to varying amounts of copper