Downstream effects of mountaintop coal mining: comparing biological conditions using family- and genus-level macroinvertebrate bioassessment tools

Pond, Gregory J.; Passmore, Margaret E.; Borsuk, Frank A.; Reynolds, Lou; Rose, Carole J.

doi:10.1899/08-015.1

Cited by 380 publications

(563 citation statements)

References 56 publications

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“…The Watershed Assessment Database (WABbase), which was obtained from the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, is described by Cormier et al [1] and was used to derive the conductivity benchmark. Additional information sources were used, including (1) toxicity tests from peer-reviewed literature [7]; (2) information on the effects of ionic mixtures on freshwater invertebrates from standard texts and physiological reviews [8][9][10][11][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23]; (3) a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) Region 3 data set from Gregory J. Pond, which includes the original data found in Pond et al [6] and data collected for a Programmatic Environmental Impact Assessment [24]; (4) data on the composition of Marcellus shale brine from Amy Bergdale, U.S. EPA Region 3, based on analyses by drilling operators; (5) data from the Kentucky Division of Water database [2]; and (6) geographic and related information from the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection and public sources [1,2].…”

Section: Data Setsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Studies of matched mined and unmined streams provide another way to examine co-occurrence. Pond et al [6] compared sites in three unmined watersheds with three nearby reclaimed mined watersheds below valleys filled with mountaintop mining overburden (MTM-Valley Fill; Table 3). The conductivity is lower in the unmined sites compared to the reclaimed mined sites, and all of the biological metrics are greater in the unmined sites, even though habitat scores are similar.…”

Section: Co-occurrencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In a study of 28 watersheds with excellent habitat quality, streams with valley fills had Table 1. After mining or reclamation, specific conductance is greater, and selected metric values are less even though total rapid bioassessment protocol (RBP) [6] greater conductivity and reduced diversity and fewer sensitive genera [25]. These studies show that where conductivity is greater, the biological diversity is less.…”

Section: Co-occurrencementioning

confidence: 99%

“…This concern originated from studies of streams below valley fills that contained impaired biotic communities where the degree of impairment was most strongly correlated with conductivity [6,7]. Our analysis uses general knowledge from laboratory experiments and also field observations from streams in Appalachia.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, ionic constituents can be quite different when land disturbance increases ionic concentration. In coal mining areas, the leaching of calcareous overburden results in ionic mixtures containing more HCO À 3 /CO 2À 3 plus SO À 4 than Cl À [1,6]. The physiological challenges for organisms are thus quite different [9,11] compared to ionic regulation in Na þ and Cl À -rich waters.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Assessing causation of the extirpation of stream macroinvertebrates by a mixture of ions

Cormier¹,

Suter²,

Zheng³

et al. 2012

Enviro Toxic and Chemistry

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Abstract-Increased ionic concentrations are associated with the impairment of benthic invertebrate assemblages. However, the causal nature of that relationship must be demonstrated so that it can be used to derive a benchmark for conductivity. The available evidence is organized in terms of six characteristics of causation: co-occurrence, preceding causation, interaction, alteration, sufficiency, and time order. The inferential approach is to weight the lines of evidence using a consistent scoring system, weigh the evidence for each causal characteristic, and then assess the body of evidence. Through this assessment, the authors found that a mixture containing the ions Ca þ , Mg þ , HCO À 3 , and SO À 4 , as measured by conductivity, is a common cause of extirpation of aquatic macroinvertebrates in Appalachia where surface coal mining is prevalent. The mixture of ions is implicated as the cause rather than any individual constituent of the mixture. The authors also expect that ionic concentrations sufficient to cause extirpations would occur with a similar salt mixture containing predominately HCO À 3 , SO 2À 4 , Ca 2þ , and Mg 2þ in other regions with naturally low conductivity. This case demonstrates the utility of the method for determining whether relationships identified in the field are causal. Environ. Toxicol.

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Section: Data Setsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Co-occurrencementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Co-occurrencementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Assessing causation of the extirpation of stream macroinvertebrates by a mixture of ions

Cormier¹,

Suter²,

Zheng³

et al. 2012

Enviro Toxic and Chemistry

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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

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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.

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A Littoral Fauna Index for assessing the impact of lakeshore alterations in Alpine lakes

Urbanič

2013

Ecohydrology

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Lakeshore deterioration is a major threat to the ecological integrity of lakes worldwide. In this study, the relationship between littoral benthic invertebrates and the Lakeshore Modification Index (LMI) was examined. The influence of the taxonomic resolution on littoral benthic invertebrate community response to LMI was assessed using the results of the canonical correspondence analysis and the relationship between the taxa richness, Shannon–Wiener diversity index and the LMI. Benthic invertebrates were sampled in summer between 2006 and 2011 in two natural and two artificial Alpine lakes using a littoral microhabitat type sampling scheme. Ordination analyses show a similar explanation power when the lowest available taxonomic level was used in comparison with the family level. Taxa richness and the Shannon–Wiener diversity index indicate that lakeshore modifications impair littoral biological conditions with a loss of richness and diversity independently of lake type and used taxonomic level. For 64 families, a lakeshore modification indicative value between one and nine were set on the basis of distribution among five lakeshore modification classes. A Littoral Fauna Index (LFI) was then derived by summation of the lakeshore modification indicative values recorded at each site. A validation dataset from natural and artificial lakes confirmed the good relationships between LMI and LFI but revealed some differences in the relationships. The results show that the impacts of lakeshore modifications can be assessed using littoral benthic invertebrate assemblages with a family‐level‐based LFI, which makes this method cost effective and appropriate for routine monitoring. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Downstream effects of mountaintop coal mining: comparing biological conditions using family- and genus-level macroinvertebrate bioassessment tools

Cited by 380 publications

References 56 publications

Assessing causation of the extirpation of stream macroinvertebrates by a mixture of ions

Assessing causation of the extirpation of stream macroinvertebrates by a mixture of ions

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

A Littoral Fauna Index for assessing the impact of lakeshore alterations in Alpine lakes

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