Selenium (Se) concentrations and fish biomass were examined in streams in two mined watersheds to determine if juvenile salmonids reflect local Se exposure concentrations downstream of surface coal mines and to investigate the relationship between Se exposure and toxicity effects at the fish community level. Se concentrations were measured in water, biofilm, macroinvertebrates, and muscle tissues from juvenile westslope cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii lewisi), bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus), rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss), and brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) in mine-affected and reference streams. Significant positive Se transfer relationships were found at each measured level of the lotic food chain.
To determine the region-specific impacts of surface coal mines on macroinvertebrate community health, chemical and physical stream characteristics and macroinvertebrate family and community metrics were measured in surface coal mine-affected and reference streams in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. Water chemistry was significantly altered in mine-affected streams, which had elevated conductivity, alkalinity, and selenium and ion concentrations compared with reference conditions. Multivariate redundancy analysis (RDA) indicated alterations in macroinvertebrate communities downstream of mine sites. In RDA ordination, Ephemeroptera family densities, family richness, Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera, Trichoptera (EPT) richness, and % Ephemeroptera declined, whereas densities of Capniidae stoneflies increased along environmental gradients defined by variables associated with mine influence including waterborne Se concentration, alkalinity, substrate embeddedness, and interstitial material size. Shifts in macroinvertebrate assemblages may have been the result of multiple region-specific stressors related to mining influences including selenium toxicity, ionic toxicity, or stream substrate modifications.
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