Chemistry of streams draining mined and unmined watersheds in the mountaintop mined landscape of Central Appalachia, USA

Gerson, Jacqueline R.; Moore, E. T.; Naslund, Laura C.; Rocca, Jennifer D.; Simonin, Marie

doi:10.1002/ecy.3093

Cited by 4 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…More details on the analytical methods and the extended chemistry data measured in each stream are available in a data paper in the ESA’s Ecological Archives (Gerson et al. 2020).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Regional map representing the distribution of the stream sites sampled in Central Appalachia (West Virginia, United States) and the mining extent for each watershed sampled. measured in each stream are available in a data paper in the ESA's Ecological Archives (Gerson et al 2020).…”

Section: Site Selection Sampling and Characterizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The water samples taken for additional water chemistry analyses were used to determine anion (Cl À , SO 4 2À , NO 3 À ) and cation (Na + , K + , Mg 2+ , Ca 2+ ) concentrations using ion chromatography on a Dionex ICS-2000 with an AS18 analytical and guard columns (Dionex Corp., Sunnyvale, California, USA) and dissolved organic carbon and total dissolved nitrogen using a Shimadzu TOC-VCPH with a TN module (Shimadzu Corporation, Kyoto, Japan). More details on the analytical methods and the extended chemistry data measured in each stream are available in a data paper in the ESA's Ecological Archives (Gerson et al 2020).…”

Section: Site Selection Sampling and Characterizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Additional supporting information may be found online at: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/eap.2389/full OPEN RESEARCH Stream chemistry data are freely available in Gerson et al (2020). Detailed chemistry data and site information on each stream sampled are presented in Data S1.…”

Section: Supporting Informationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Stream chemistry data are freely available in Gerson et al. (2020). Detailed chemistry data and site information on each stream sampled are presented in Data .…”

Section: Open Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Consistent declines in aquatic biodiversity across diverse domains of life in rivers impacted by surface coal mining

Simonin

Rocca

Gerson

et al. 2021

Ecological Applications

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The rivers of Appalachia (United States) are among the most biologically diverse freshwater ecosystems in the temperate zone and are home to numerous endemic aquatic organisms. Throughout the Central Appalachian ecoregion, extensive surface coal mines generate alkaline mine drainage that raises the pH, salinity, and trace element concentrations in downstream waters. Previous regional assessments have found significant declines in stream macroinvertebrate and fish communities after draining these mined areas. Here, we expand these assessments with a more comprehensive evaluation across a broad range of organisms (bacteria, algae, macroinvertebrates, all eukaryotes, and fish) using high-throughput amplicon sequencing of environmental DNA (eDNA). We collected water samples from 93 streams in Central Appalachia (West Virginia, United States) spanning a gradient of mountaintop coal mining intensity and legacy to assess how this land use alters downstream water chemistry and affects aquatic biodiversity. For each group of organisms, we identified the sensitive and tolerant taxa along the gradient and calculated stream specific conductivity thresholds in which large synchronous declines in diversity were observed. Streams below mining operations had steep declines in diversity (À18 to À41%) and substantial shifts in community composition that were consistent across multiple taxonomic groups. Overall, large synchronous declines in bacterial, algal, and macroinvertebrate communities occurred even at low levels of mining impact at stream specific conductivity thresholds of 150-200 µS/cm that are substantially below the current U.S. Environmental Protection Agency aquatic life benchmark of 300 µS/cm for Central Appalachian streams. We show that extensive coal surface mining activities led to the extirpation of 40% of biodiversity from impacted rivers throughout the region and that current water quality criteria are likely not protective for many groups of aquatic organisms.

show abstract

“…More details on the analytical methods and the extended chemistry data measured in each stream are available in a data paper in the ESA’s Ecological Archives (Gerson et al. 2020).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Site Selection Sampling and Characterizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Site Selection Sampling and Characterizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Supporting Informationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Stream chemistry data are freely available in Gerson et al. (2020). Detailed chemistry data and site information on each stream sampled are presented in Data .…”

Section: Open Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations