Department of Biological and Environmental Sciences, California University of Pennsylvania, 250 University Avenue, California, USA.
J Environ Manage. 2019 Nov 15;250:109484. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2019.109484. Epub 2019 Sep 2.
Over 4000 km of Pennsylvania's flowing waters and attendant ecosystems have been degraded by mine drainage to the exclusion of multiple designated uses. Both Acid Mine Drainage (AMD) and Net Alkaline Mine Drainage (NAMD) may result from coal extraction depending on the underlying geology. Acid Mine Drainage is characterized as an acidic mixture of toxic heavy metals in solution, while NAMD is circumneutral in pH with metals forming oxidized precipitates. The ecological impacts of AMD have been well documented but NAMD-impacted streams have received considerably less attention. We selected 10 low-order tributaries of the Ohio and Youghiogheny rivers in southwestern Pennsylvania impacted by point-source inputs of NAMD for assessment of water quality and benthic macroinvertebrate communities. Levels of pH, total iron (Fe), and sulfate (SO) were significantly elevated in the impacted stream reaches when compared with upstream reference sites while total alkalinity and specific conductance were equivalent. Macroinvertebrate abundance declined by 92% in the impacted stream reaches, but community structure in terms of taxonomic composition and species richness was similar. Total iron, total sulfate, and specific conductance were significantly linked to macroinvertebrate community impairment. The presence of resident macroinvertebrate communities in the unimpacted reaches suggests that remediation would result in a rapid recolonization and establishment of viable downstream ecosystems.
宾夕法尼亚州 4000 多公里的流水及其伴生生态系统因矿山排水而退化，使其无法满足多种指定用途。煤矿开采可能导致酸性矿山排水 (AMD) 和净碱性矿山排水 (NAMD)。AMD 的特点是酸性有毒重金属混合物在溶液中，而 NAMD 的 pH 值呈中性，金属形成氧化沉淀物。AMD 的生态影响已有详细记录，但受 NAMD 影响的溪流受到的关注要少得多。我们选择了宾夕法尼亚州西南部俄亥俄州和约戈尼格尼河的 10 条低阶支流，这些支流受到 NAMD 的点源输入的影响，用于评估水质和底栖大型无脊椎动物群落。与上游参考点相比，受影响的溪流河段的 pH 值、总铁 (Fe) 和硫酸盐 (SO) 水平显著升高，而总碱度和比电导相当。受影响的溪流河段大型无脊椎动物的丰度下降了 92%，但在分类组成和物种丰富度方面，群落结构相似。总铁、总硫酸盐和比电导与大型无脊椎动物群落受损显著相关。未受影响的河段存在着本地大型无脊椎动物群落，这表明修复将导致快速的再殖民化和可行的下游生态系统的建立。
