Peter N Reinthal

Interests

Research

The evolution and ecology of African Freshwater Fishes;Impacts of AMD on freshwater ecosystems;Conservation of desert fishes.

Teaching

Ichthyology and Evolutionary Biology

Courses

Scholarly Contributions

Chapters

• Reinthal, P. N., Blasius, H., & Haberstitch, M. (2021). Long-Term Monitoring of a Desert Fish Assemblage in Aravaipa Creek, Arizona. In Standing Between Life and Extinction(pp 225-237). University of Chicago Press.

Journals/Publications

• Billingsley, A. L., Reinthal, P. N., Dettman, D. L., Kingston, J., Deino, A., Ortiz, K., Mohler, B., & Cohen, A. S. (2019). δ13C records from fish fossils as paleo-indicators of ecosystem response to lake levels in the Plio-Pleistocene lakes of Tugen Hills, Kenya. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. doi:https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2019.109466
• Bronstein, J. L., & Reinthal, P. N. (2010).

  A NEW APPROACH TO TEACHING EVOLUTION

  . Evolution. doi:10.1111/j.1558-5646.2009.00939.x
• Chesley, J. T., Chorover, J., Corley, T. L., Morfin, O., Reinthal, P. N., & Ruiz, J. C. (2006). Biogeochemical monitoring of heavy metals in food webs: Sources, deposition, pathways and bioaccumulation. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta. doi:10.1016/j.gca.2006.06.112
• Konings, A., & Reinthal, P. N. (1991).

  Ad Konings's Book of Cichlids and All the Other Fishes of Lake Malawi

  . Copeia. doi:10.2307/1446130
• Lewis, D. S., McKaye, K. R., Reinthal, P. N., & Trendall, J. T. (1988).

  A Guide to the Fishes of Lake Malawi National Park

  . Copeia. doi:10.2307/1445908
• Livingstone, D. A., Reinthal, P. N., & Stager, J. C. (1986).

  A 25,000-year history for Lake Victoria, East Africa, and some comments on its significance for the evolution of cichlid fishes

  . Freshwater Biology. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2427.1986.tb00944.x
  More info

  SUMMARY. 1. Microfossil and X-ray analyses of sediment cores from Lake Victoria. East Africa, reveal a history of dramatically shifting environmental conditions over the last 25,000 years. 2. The diatom record of a 10 m core collected from beneath 66 m of water at an offshore station extends the known history of the lake 10,000 years beyond the published records from Pilkington Bay and Damba Channel, and shows that maximal late Pleistocene aridity occurred between 15,000 and 13,000 bp. Lack of precipitated carbonates in the offshore sediments suggests that the lake remained relatively dilute throughout the period of record. 3. There is no evidence that the lake level fell low enough to confine fishes to refugia in small isolated ponds or around river mouths.

Presentations

• Reinthal, P. N. (2019, Spring). Identification and Management of the Endangered Gila topminnow. Hosted AGFD and USFW Topminnow/Pupfish Workshop at UA. University of Arizona: US Fish and Wildlife and Arizona Game and Fish.
• Billingsley, A. L., Reinthal, P. N., Dettman, D. L., Kingston, J. D., Deino, A. L., & Cohen, A. S. (2018, November 4). δ13C record from Plio-Pleistocene lacustrine fish fossils from an HSPDP drill core from Tugen Hills, Kenya: Implications for fish habitats and the timing and extent of lake level fluctuations.. GSA Annual Meeting. Indianapolis: GSA.
  More info

  The carbon isotope ratios of organic matter in fish fossils from diatomites and other lake beds in the HSPDP drill core from Tugen Hills, Kenya (2.58-3.3 Mya) reflect the fishes’ food resources and can be used to infer the habitats of fish. This information offers insight into how fish communities responded to lake level pulses during the Plio-Pleistocene in East Africa. The record is compared to both a Lake Malawi drill core (145 kya - present) and modern Lake Turkana samples to offer context. Both the Lake Malawi drill core fossils (-7.2‰ to-27.5‰ VPDB) and modern Lake Turkana samples (-16‰ to -24.6‰) have δ13C values indicating near-shore habitats as well as deep-water pelagic species. The δ13C values for the Tugen Hills core range from -20‰ to -27‰. There are no δ13C values greater than -19‰, which would suggest near-shore benthic habitats. The lack of shallow, benthic lacustrine fish communities may indicate that the rate of change from low-lake stands to deeper lake phases was very rapid and shallow species were unable to establish communities at the core site. The range of δ13C values implies a reliance on similar food sources within the fish communities that made them extremely vulnerable to environmental changes, such as algal blooms. This may be the reason we do not see any fish fossils in diatomite layers. Furthermore, the consistently low δ13C values of the Tugen Hills drill core suggest there were deep lake systems available as a food source even in the most arid phases of East African climate. These results strongly suggest that lake level responses to climate variability in the East African Rift were very abrupt during the Plio-Pleistocene transition.
• Cohen, A. S., Deino, A., Kingston, J., Dettman, D., Reinthal, P. N., & Billingsley, A. (2018, June). δ13C record from Plio-Pleistocene lacustrine fish fossils from an HSPDP drill core from Tugen Hills, Kenya: Implications for fish habitats and the timing and extent of lake level fluctuations. International Paleolimnology Association-International Association of Limnogeology Meeting. Stockholm, Sweden: IPA/IAL.
• Grube, E., Reinthal, P. N., & Gray, F. (2018, November). Inorganic Contaminants and Stable Isotopic Food Web Analyses of Bioaccumulation in Aquatic Communities in Southern Arizona. Desert Fishes Council 50th Annual Meeting. Death Valley, CA: Desert Fishes Council.
  More info

  In the arid southwest, Acid Mine Drainages (AMD) alter watershed characteristics via input of acidic and metal-laden waters from abandoned mines and tailings. In the Santa Cruz River watershed, many geologic workings, tailings, and drainages periodically discharge metal-rich, acidic water, and leachates into surrounding systems. Most research focuses on single species responses to individual elemental contaminants. Here we combine contaminant and stable isotope analyses to look at bioaccumulation of multiple contaminants and food web dynamics in desert streams and lakes. We examine contamination of seven toxic metals (arsenic, cadmium, copper, mercury, lead, selenium and uranium) in samples of invertebrates, and sport and native fish species using both muscle and liver tissues collected in the Upper Santa Cruz watershed, Patagonia Lake, and Pena Blanca Lake. We determine food web structure using stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes. By combining these analytical methods with regression and multivariate methods, we present a novel approach of testing whether metal contamination occurs from consumption of different food resources or through bioaccumulation. We find community level responses to a suite of contaminants. Our results indicate that there is great variation in different contaminants in both invertebrate and fish species. Contaminants accumulate in different species primarily due to alternate resource utilization as indicated by ‰ C. However, some species at higher trophic levels (> 4 ‰ N) demonstrate a trophic expansion to the consumption of a wider range of food items in degraded low pH, high metal systems. These results support the conclusion that impacts from degraded systems (low pH and high metals) are not just species specific but that trophic interactions among species and food web dynamics are significantly altered.
• Reinthal, P. N. (2018, Feb 27). Impacts of Acid Mine Drainages on Aquatic Systems, Patagonia Mountains. USGS/USFW Joint Meeting. University of Arizona USGS: USGS.
  More info

  Update conference on research on acid mine drainage in Patagonia Mountains
• Reinthal, P. N., Grube, B. R., Gwinn (USFW), J., & Gray (USGS), F. (2018, May 15). Comparative Macroinvertebrate Community Structure and Bioaccumulation in an Acid Mine Drainage Watershed, AZ.. Madrean Conference 2018. Tucson, AZ: Sky Island.
  More info

  Mine drainages in the Patagonia Mountains, Arizona impact the composition and function of aquatic ecosystems because acidic, metal-laden water discharges can lower the abundances, evenness and richness of various members of the invertebrate communities and these population level impacts can affect the food web dynamics. We examined water quality, collected invertebrate samples from aquatic communities and utilized stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes to examine food web dynamics in three separate drainages in the Patagonia Mountains with different pH and contaminant conditions. Alum Glutch is an acid mine drainage (AMD) and had had low pH (3.1-4.6) and elevated levels of metals. Humboldt Canyon had a naturally occurring low pH (2.7-3.7) with low levels of contaminants, and Middle Harshaw had a more neutral pH (7.3-8.6) and low levels of metals. Impaired stream reaches, especially in Alum Gulch, were found to have an overall decrease in invertebrate taxa, dominated by Coleopterans and Hemipterans with a higher mean pollution tolerance level. The Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, and Trichoptera (EPT –Mayflies, Stoneflies, and Caddisflies) disappeared from the aquatic community. The food web was dominated by predatory species (Dytiscidae) and a loss of lower trophic levels. Middle Harshaw Creek was found to have the greatest diversity of macroinvertebrates and increased foodweb complexity. Stable carbon and nitrogen isotopic results showed a loss of lower trophic levels in the impaired streams. Additionally, to identify extent, sources, bioaccumulation and transportation of metal contaminants in these aquatic systems, we collected fish and aquatic macroinvertebrates from lakes and streams and used High Resolution Inductive Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (HR-ICP-MS) to analyze tissues for 59 inorganic contaminants. Lead isotopic analysis was conducted with soil, water, and aquatic biota samples as a possible method to determine point source pollution locations in relation to known mine locations. Numerous contaminants were found in very high levels in both invertebrates and fish which were geographically near historic mining areas. Lead (Pb) and mercury (Hg) were elevated in predatory invertebrates and predatory sport fish, with largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) and channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus), having the highest levels of Hg and Pb.
• Reinthal, P. N., Grube, E., & Gray, F. (2017, November). Inorganic Contaminants and Stable Isotopic Food Web Analyses of Bio-accumulation in Aquatic Communities in Southern Arizona. Desert Fishes Council 49th Annual Meeting.
  More info

  In the arid southwest, Acid Mine Drainages (AMD) alter watershed characteristics via input of acidic and metal-laden waters from abandoned mines and tailings. In the Santa Cruz River watershed, many geologic workings, tailings, and drainages periodically discharge metal-rich, acidic water, and leachates into surrounding systems. Most research focuses on single species responses to individual elemental contaminants. Here we combine contaminant and stable isotope analyses to look at bioaccumulation of multiple contaminants and food web dynamics in desert streams and lakes. We examine contamination of seven toxic metals (arsenic, cadmium, copper, mercury, lead, selenium and uranium) in samples of invertebrates, and sport and native fish species using both muscle and liver tissues collected in the Upper Santa Cruz watershed, Patagonia Lake, and Pena Blanca Lake. We determine food web structure using stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes. By combining these analytical methods with regression and multivariate methods, we present a novel approach of testing whether metal contamination occurs from consumption of different food resources or through bioaccumulation. We find community level responses to a suite of contaminants. Our results indicate that there is great variation in different contaminants in both invertebrate and fish species. Contaminants accumulate in different species primarily due to alternate resource utilization as indicated by ‰ C. However, some species at higher trophic levels (> 4 ‰ N) demonstrate a trophic expansion to the consumption of a wider range of food items in degraded low pH, high metal systems. These results support the conclusion that impacts from degraded systems (low pH and high metals) are not just species specific but that trophic interactions among species and food web dynamics are significantly altered.
• Reinthal, P. N., & Gwinn, J. E. (2016, August). Hydrological Disturbances Regimes and Their Impacts on Native and Non-Native Fish Communities in Aravaipa Canyon, Arizona. American Fisheries Society National Meeting - Invited Symposium on Disturbance and Hydrological Regiemes. St Louis: American Fisheries Society.
  More info

  Invited presentation at AFS Symposium
• Reinthal, P. N., & Gwinn, J. E. (2016, November). Hydrological Disturbances Regimes in Aravaipa Canyon, Arizona: Impacts on Native and Non-Native Fish Communities. Desert Fishes Council Annual Meeting. Albuquerque, New Mexico: Desert Fishes Council.
  More info

  Presentation at Desert Fishes Council Annual Meeting held in Albuquerque New Mexico

Poster Presentations

• Grube, B. R., Mesquita, M. M., Hoaglin, V. A., & Reinthal, P. N. (2017, April). Inorganic Contaminants and Stable Isotopic Food Web Analyses of Bioaccumulation in Aquatic Communities in Southern Arizona. EEB Poster Session. University of Arizona: EEB.
• Cochran, A., Reinthal, P. N., & Rosen, P. (2014, April). The Urban Ecology of Gila Topminnow (Poeciliopsis occidentalis occidentalis): A Case Study of Population Health in Built Environments.. EEB Poster Session. University of Arizona: EEB.
  More info

  Gila Topminnow (P. o. occidentalis) is a federally listed endangered Poeciliid fish species native to Arizona. Elimination of natural populations requires the assessment of supporting populations in urban settings using constructed, artificial habitats. These built environments have potential to provide a ‘safe harbor’ that guarantee the species’ persistence in lieu of continued threats, as well as to offer sustainable, ecologically useful alternatives to urban aquatic habitats populated by nonnative species. Here we assess the health of topminnow populations under a variety of urban aquatic populations to test the hypotheses of whether specific design features of built environments impacted population condition.