Premium
Integrative assessment of benthic macroinvertebrate community impairment from metal‐contaminated waters in tributaries of the upper Powell River, Virginia, USA
Author(s) -
Schmidt Travis S.,
Soucek David J.,
Cherry Donald S.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
environmental toxicology and chemistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.1
H-Index - 171
eISSN - 1552-8618
pISSN - 0730-7268
DOI - 10.1002/etc.5620211030
Subject(s) - benthic zone , water column , acid mine drainage , environmental science , sediment , tributary , hydrology (agriculture) , invertebrate , watershed , environmental chemistry , water quality , benthos , ecology , oceanography , geology , chemistry , biology , geography , paleontology , cartography , geotechnical engineering , machine learning , computer science
Benthic macroinvertebrate communities of the North Fork Powell River (NFP), southwest Virginia, USA, appear to be impacted by aluminum (Al) and iron (Fe) from acid mine drainage (AMD) beyond the zone of pH depression. As part of a watershed restoration project, we used integrative techniques, including water column, sediment, and in situ toxicity tests; sediment and water column chemistry; and habitat assessments, to detect AMD impacts. An analysis of variance, least significant difference post hoc test, and Spearman correlations were used to test the sensitivity of these integrative techniques to detect various (acidic or neutralized) levels of AMD input and to determine the mode of impairment (metal‐contaminated sediments or water) to the benthic macroinvertebrate community. Benthic macroinvertebrate indices were the most sensitive endpoint to AMD inputs and were significantly correlated ( p ≤ 0.05) with water column metal concentrations in in situ and water column toxicity tests. Sediment chemistry and toxicity did not detect AMD impacts and were not significantly correlated with benthic macroinvertebrate indices. These results suggest that the primary mode of impairment to the benthic macroinvertebrate communities beyond the zone of pH depression were waterborne Al and Fe.