Mortality of Brook Trout, Mottled Sculpins, and Slimy Sculpins during Acidic Episodes

Gagen, Charles J.; Sharpe, William E.; Carline, Robert F.

doi:10.1577/1548-8659(1993)122<0616:mobtms>2.3.co;2

Cited by 42 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…No acid-tolerance information is available for the longnose dace, but its distribution in the Neversink River indicates that it is more acid tolerant than blacknose dace and as tolerant as brown trout. Though pH tolerance levels offer a general ranking of each species' sensitivity in acidified systems, many studies have shown that other factors such as Al im , DOC, and Ca 2+ , along with the timing and magnitude of episodic fluctuations in toxic acid and Al im concentrations, are strongly related to the degree of stream acidification and influence fish survival in natural systems (Baker et al, 1990;Gagen et al, 1993;Simonin et al, 1993;Van Sickle et al, 1996;Baldigo and Murdoch, 1997). Aluminum fractionation and Al im concentration are also directly dependent upon pH levels (Driscoll, 1985) and both acidity and Al im act in a similar manner to affect fish survival (Wood et al, 1990).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of stream acidification and habitat on fish populations of a North American river

Baldigo

Lawrence

2001

Aquat. sci.

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Water quality, physical habitat, and fisheries at sixteen reaches in the Neversink River Basin were studied during 1991 -95 to identify the effects of acidic precipitation on stream-water chemistry and on selected fish-species populations, and to test the hypothesis that the degree of stream acidification affected the spatial distribution of each fish-species population. Most sites on the East Branch Neversink were strongly to severely acidified, whereas most sites on the West Branch were minimally to moderately acidified. Mean density of fish populations ranged from 0 to 2.15 fish/m 2 ; biomass ranged from 0 to 17.5 g/m 2 . Where brook trout were present, their population density ranged from 0.04 to 1.09 fish/m 2 , biomass ranged from 0.76 to 12.2 g/m 2 , and condition (K) ranged from 0.94 to 1.07. Regression analyses revealed strong relations (r 2 ± 0.41 to 0.99; p ≤ 0.05) between characteristics of the two most common species (brook trout and slimy sculpin) populations and mean concentrations of inorganic monomeric aluminum (Al im ), pH, Si, K + , NO 3 -, NH + 4 , DOC, Ca 2+ , and Na + ; acid neutralizing capacity (ANC); and water temperature. Stream acidification may have adversely affected fish populations at most East Branch sites, but in other parts of the Neversink River Basin these effects were masked or mitigated by other physical habitat, geochemical, and biological factors.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of stream acidification and habitat on fish populations of a North American river

Baldigo

Lawrence

2001

Aquat. sci.

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“…These values occur naturally in many soils and are increasingly common because of widespread acidification associated with acid precipitation (42). Acidification clearly mobilizes aluminum and has been associated with significant impacts on plant and animal populations (7,16,48). Whether microbial processes in soils are similarly affected is not certain.…”

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confidence: 99%

Response of Atmospheric Methane Consumption by Maine Forest Soils to Exogenous Aluminum Salts

Nanba

King

2000

Appl Environ Microbiol

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Atmospheric methane consumption by Maine forest soils was inhibited by additions of environmentally relevant levels of aluminum. Aluminum chloride was more inhibitory than nitrate or sulfate salts, but its effect was comparable to that of a chelated form of aluminum. Inhibition could be explained in part by the lower soil pH values which resulted from aluminum addition. However, significantly greater inhibition by aluminum than by mineral acids at equivalent soil pH values indicated that inhibition also resulted from direct effects of aluminum per se. The extent of inhibition by exogenous aluminum increased with increasing methane concentration for soils incubated in vitro. At methane concentrations of >10 ppm, inhibition could be observed when aluminum chloride was added at concentrations as low as 10 nmol g (fresh weight) of soil ؊1. These results suggest that widespread acidification of soils and aluminum mobilization due to acid precipitation may exacerbate inhibition of atmospheric methane consumption due to changes in other parameters and increase the contribution of methane to global warming.A number of factors adversely affect atmospheric methane consumption by soils. Ammonium is one of the most important of these (6,8,13,14,20,30,31,37,49), but other factors include water stress (47), terpenes (3), salts (1,21,27,32), and land use (22,23,25,28). Soil pH has also been documented as a potentially important limiting factor, with both acidic (pH Ͻ4) and alkaline (pH Ͼ7) regimes inhibiting activity (2, 12, 22; J. Benstead and G. M. King, unpublished results). Although some evidence supports a role in methane consumption for acid-tolerant or moderately acidophilic methanotrophs in peats (12), the acid-tolerant peat isolates described to date have not been shown to consume atmospheric methane, and acid-tolerant methanotrophs have not been documented for soils.In contrast to the impact of pH in peats, the effects of pH on methanotrophic activity in acidic soils may be compounded by solubilization of aluminosilicates, which constitute a major fraction of the mineral horizons where atmospheric methane consumption occurs most actively. Although the chemistry of aluminum is well understood (36) and its toxic effects on multicellular organisms are known in some detail (15,17,(34)(35)(36)52), the response of microbes to aluminum is not well documented (42).Several studies have examined the effects of aluminum on cyanobacteria and fungi and documented a range of responses (10,(41)(42)(43). Physiological studies with bacteria have emphasized well-known strains, such as Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus megaterium, and Pseudomonas fluorescens (4,11,19,42,44). A broader range of studies have focused on rhizobia and documented toxicity in cultures and in bacteriumlegume symbioses (7,8,18,24,26,33,38,39,43,50,51). However, the effects of aluminum on microbes or microbial processes in a more general ecological context have not been adequately assessed.Nonetheless, dissolved aluminum concentrations can reach ...

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“…Second, causation cannot be directly inferred from a correlation without a clear mechanism. For stream pH, numerous lab studies (Ingersoll et al 1990;Mount et al 1990;Cleveland et al 1991;Jagoe and Haines 1997) and field bioassay studies (Gagen et al 1993;Simonin et al 1993;Baker et al 1996;Van Sickle et al 1996;Baldigo and Murdoch 1997;Lachance et al 2000) increase our confidence that low pH and associated dissolution of monomeric aluminum (Al +3 ) influence fish biomass in headwater streams. As noted above, the association of pool habitat with fish biomass has been documented in other correlative studies (Stichert et al 2001;Binns 2004;Harvey et al 2005;Young et al 2005).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Relating fish biomass to habitat and chemistry in headwater streams of the northeastern United States

et al. 2010

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Stream pH and stream habitat have both been identified as important environmental features influencing total fish biomass in streams, but few studies have evaluated the relative influence of habitat and pH together. We measured total fish biomass, stream habitat, and stream pH in sixteen sites from three tributary systems in the northeastern United States. The habitat metrics included total pool area, a cover score, large wood frequency, and stream temperature. We created and compared nine linear models relating total fish biomass in summer to stream pH and stream habitat using Akaike's Information Criterion (AIC) analysis. The best (most parsimonious) models included pool area and stream pH. These results and a separate comparison of three regressions (low-flow pH, pool area, and these two metrics together versus total fish biomass) suggest that both habitat and stream buffering capacity affect the total biomass of fish in northeastern US headwater streams. When stream pH is adequate (low-flow pH greater than at least 5.7), physical habitat is likely to be more important, but under lower pH conditions, habitat is likely to be less effective in accounting for the total biomass of fish in these streams. This work demonstrates the continued effects of stream acidification in the northeastern US and more generally, it illustrates the importance of considering both physical and chemical conditions of a stream when evaluating the factors influencing fish communities.

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Mortality of Brook Trout, Mottled Sculpins, and Slimy Sculpins during Acidic Episodes

Cited by 42 publications

References 18 publications

Effects of stream acidification and habitat on fish populations of a North American river

Effects of stream acidification and habitat on fish populations of a North American river

Response of Atmospheric Methane Consumption by Maine Forest Soils to Exogenous Aluminum Salts

Relating fish biomass to habitat and chemistry in headwater streams of the northeastern United States

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