What do you believe is the single most important factor driving up the cost of living in Nigeria?

Each year, millions of Pacific salmon make a grand journey from the ocean to their freshwater spawning grounds at the end of their life cycles. This migration has rippling effects through food webs and ecosystems along the way.

Whether they decompose or are consumed by other animals, these salmon deliver both nutrients and contaminants they have accumulated in their bodies after spending most of their lives growing at sea.

A team of researchers from UConn, the University of South Dakota, the U.S. Geological Survey, Natural Resource Consultants, the University of Saskatchewan, the University of Missouri, and Regis University set out to study the transport of these nutrients and contaminants and trends as the salmon community changed over 40 years.

Their findings are published in the journal Nature.

Jess Brandt, assistant professor in UConn's College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources Department of Natural Resources and the Environment and the Center for Environmental Sciences and Engineering, led the project.

• Read More