Evaluating Impacts of Mountain Top Removal/Valley Fill Coal Mining on Stream Fish Populations

Abstract

Abstract. Little information exists regarding the effects of mountain top removal/valley fill coal mining on stream fish populations in West Virginia and Kentucky. To address this knowledge gap, we conducted a study in cooperation with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Region III to characterize the fish communities that exist in these regions and to evaluate the effects of these mining operations on fish populations. During 1999-2000, fish assemblages were sampled in 58 sites in West Virginia and in 15 sites in Kentucky. Results from this sampling effort indicated that not enough reference (unmined) sites were included to adequately assess the potential effects of mountain top mining/valley fill operations on fish communities in the area. We found a strong relationship between stream size (as described by stream order) and the total number of fish species present that confounded the effects of mining. As a result, in Fall 2001, we sampled 13 sites in the Guyandotte River drainage, including eight sites in the Mud River that were classified as filled or filled/residential and five reference (unmined) sites in the Big Ugly. Both the number of species and the number of benthic species present were greater in the reference sites than in the filled sites in 2001. Water chemistry analysis revealed that five of the Mud River sites sampled in 2001 had detectable levels of selenium (9.5 -31.5 µg/l). Sites that were associated with valley fills that had detectable levels of selenium seemed to be more impaired than sites associated with valley fills that had no detectable levels of selenium. Clearly, careful site selection and a multiple year collecting regimen are needed to determine the effects of these mining operations on stream fish assemblages.

Characterizing coal and mineral mines as a regional source of stress to stream fish assemblages

“…Our fish metrics displayed similar responses to mining as others in the literature (Letterman and Mitsch, 1978;Howells et al, 1983;Ferreri et al, 2004;Schorr and Backer, 2006;US EPA, 2011), but we demonstrated that mine influences are more pronounced at larger spatial scales than previously tested. In the conterminous United States (US), every state has mining within its borders.…”

“…Reduced fish and macroinvertebrate survival and production have been found in streams receiving mine drainage (Letterman and Mitsch, 1978;Howells et al, 1983). The accumulation of both influences from anthropogenic land use plus the unique effects from mines reduces fish species richness and abundance (Letterman and Mitsch, 1978;Howells et al, 1983;Ferreri et al, 2004;Schorr and Backer, 2006;US EPA, 2011).…”

Mountaintop removal mining reduces stream salamander occupancy and richness in southeastern Kentucky (USA)

“…For example, macroinvertebrate richness in MTR/VF streams is significantly reduced compared to reference locations (Pond, 2010(Pond, , 2012, and freshwater mussel diversity decreases as extent of surface mines increase within catchments of central Appalachian rivers (Warren and Haag, 2005). Additionally, fish species richness is reduced by 50% at sites downstream from MTR/VF (Ferreri et al, 2004). Amphibians, specifically salamanders, are important components of low-order stream ecosystems (Davic and Welsh, 2004); up to 9 species occur within central Appalachian streams (Petranka, 1998).…”

Can salinity trigger cascade effects on streams? A mesocosm approach

“…Since freshwater organisms need to keep an osmotic balance with the river water, they are very sensitive to changes in salinity (Williams, 2001;James et al, 2003). When the river salinity increases the most sensitive species, those who are unable to cope with high salinity increases, tend to disappear (Busse et al, 1999;Ferreri et al, 2004;Horrigan et al, 2005;Kefford et al, 2006) having an important impact on the ecosystem functioning (Fritz et al, 2010;Schäfer et al, 2012).…”