Surface coal mining influences on macroinvertebrate assemblages in streams of the Canadian Rocky Mountains

Abstract

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.

Assessment of the impact of copper mining and related industrial activities on aquatic macroinvertebrate communities of the Pek River (Serbia)

“…The largest number of taxa was recorded at site 1, the reference locality, in contrast to site 2, which is under considerable anthropogenic influence and where the community exhibited a notable decrease in diversity with the absence of taxa sensitive to pollution, such as the EPT group and Crustacea. The EPT group is sensitive to metal contamination and other elements of mining pollution [8,9], as are Crustacea [23][24][25]. A gradual increase in diversity downstream of site 2, with the reappearance of groups such as Ephemeroptera, Trichoptera and Gammaridae, as well as increased diversity of Coleoptera, Diptera and Odonata, point to a successful recovery of the Pek River macroinvertebrate community.…”

“…In previous research of the Pek River, increased turbidity caused by elevated concentrations of dissolved solid matter was reported repeatedly, and high levels of copper, sulfates, nitrogen, ammonia, orthophosphates, iron and manganese have been recorded both in the water and sediment [6,7]. Recent studies assessing the influence of mining industries on river biota [8][9][10][11] have addressed elevated acidity or alkalinity and increased metal ion concentrations in the water and substrate, with the aim of discovering harmful factors and the mechanism of their influence.…”

Challenges and future prospects for developing Ca and Mg water quality guidelines: a meta-analysis

“…only SO 4 22 and Cl 2 ) [7,8]. Relative to other major ions, the toxicity of Ca and Mg has largely been overlooked, despite these ions being present in relatively large quantities in wastewater or run-off owing to a variety of anthropogenic activities [9][10][11][12][13][14]. Instead, Ca and Mg have predominantly been assessed for their capacity to ameliorate trace metal toxicity [15][16][17][18].…”

“…However, resource extraction and use can greatly increase the rate of weathering of these materials and their subsequent deposition into freshwater ecosystems, modifying the water hardness. As such, anthropogenic activities, including mining [10], oil and gas extraction [11,12], agriculture [13] and road salt use [9,14], have the potential to profoundly increase water hardness in aquatic ecosystems and beyond the toxicity threshold of freshwater species.…”

N-P Fertilization Stimulates Anaerobic Selenium Reduction in an End-Pit Lake

“…No long term data was available prior to fertilization. As a highly oligotrophic headwater pit-lake, we assumed phosphorus to be limiting with negligible concentrations and nitrogen to be potentially higher due to input from blasting operations during mining 43 , 44 . We estimated the volume of the lake from its surface area and depth and chose a target concentration for total P as roughly 0.5 mg/l.…”