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Recovery of macroinvertebrate communities from metal pollution in the South Fork and mainstem of the Coeur d'Alene River, Idaho
Author(s) -
Hoiland Wade K.,
Rabe Fred W.,
Biggam Russell C.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
water environment research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.356
H-Index - 73
eISSN - 1554-7531
pISSN - 1061-4303
DOI - 10.2175/wer.66.1.11
Subject(s) - tailings , benthic zone , environmental science , biota , streams , acid mine drainage , pollution , ecology , species richness , hydrology (agriculture) , geography , geology , environmental chemistry , biology , computer network , chemistry , geotechnical engineering , computer science , materials science , metallurgy
Mining has severely impacted the biota in the Coeur d'Alene River drainage of northern Idaho. The benthic community of the South Fork and mainstem was monitored from 1968 to 1971 and from 1987 to 1991 to determine the effects of improved mine wastewater treatment and mine closures. With the decrease of heavy metal levels, the benthic community showed a gradual recovery as evidenced by large increases in taxonomic richness (0 to 18), Ephemeroptera‐Plecoptera‐Trichoptera index (0 to 8), and species diversity (0 to 1.8). Although considerable recovery has occurred, the biotic integrity of impacted sites continues to lag behind reference sites, probably due to poor habitat structure and metals leaching from mine tailings.