Centre for Applied Water Science, Institute for Applied Ecology, University of Canberra, Canberra, ACT, 2601, Australia.
Arch Environ Contam Toxicol. 2022 Feb;82(2):266-280. doi: 10.1007/s00244-021-00827-1. Epub 2021 Apr 20.
The application of road de-icing salts has the potential to salinize fresh waters and degrade habitat for aquatic organisms. In the Australian Alps, the ecological effects of even small salinity increases from de-icing may be different than in North America and Europe because of (1) differences in the evolutionary history, and (2) areas with de-icing in Australia are not located in urbanized landscapes where de-icing has been largely studied elsewhere. In this study, we tried to determine the salinity increases attributable to de-icing in Australia and the effects of this increase in salinity to stream macroinvertebrates. We observed increased salt concentrations (as measured by continuous measurements of electrical conductivity (EC) and periodic measurements of chloride concentrations) in streams near two Australian ski resorts, during the snow seasons (June to September) of 2016 to 2018. The maximum EC observed in streams in salted sites near Perisher, New South Wales, was 390 µS cm compared with a maximum of 26.5 µS cm at unsalted sites. Lower EC values (i.e., maximum 61.1 µS cm) and short durations of salinity increases in streams near Falls Creek, Victoria, were not expected to cause an adverse biological response. Salt storage in the landscape was evident at salted sites near Perisher where EC was above background levels during periods of the year when no salt was applied to roads. Stream macroinvertebrate community composition differed at sites receiving run-off from road salting activities near Perisher. Abundances of Oligochaeta (worms) (up to 11-fold), Dugesiidae (flat worms) (up to fourfold), and Aphroteniinae (chironomids) (up to 14-fold) increased, whereas Leptophlebiidae (mayflies) decreased by up to 100% compared with non-salted sites. The taxa that were less abundant where de-icing salts were present tended to be the same taxa that toxicity testing revealed to be relatively salt sensitive species. This study demonstrates a causal link between de-icing salts, elevated stream salinity, and altered macroinvertebrate community composition in streams that received run-off from road de-icing activity in the Australian Alps.
道路除冰盐的应用有可能使淡水盐碱化，并破坏水生生物的栖息地。在澳大利亚阿尔卑斯山，即使是除冰带来的较小盐度增加的生态影响，也可能与北美和欧洲不同，这是因为 (1) 进化历史的差异，以及 (2) 澳大利亚的除冰区域不在已经在其他地方进行了大量研究的城市化景观中。在这项研究中，我们试图确定澳大利亚除冰盐造成的盐度增加，并确定这种盐度增加对溪流大型无脊椎动物的影响。我们观察到，在 2016 年至 2018 年的雪季（6 月至 9 月）期间，新南威尔士州佩里舍附近的两个澳大利亚滑雪胜地附近的溪流中，盐度不断增加（通过连续测量电导率 (EC) 和定期测量氯化物浓度来测量）。在新南威尔士州佩里舍附近的撒盐点，观察到的溪流中最大 EC 值为 390 µS cm，而未撒盐点的最大 EC 值为 26.5 µS cm。在维多利亚州的菲茨罗伊溪附近，EC 值较低（即最大 61.1 µS cm），盐度增加持续时间短，预计不会对生物产生不利反应。在佩里舍附近的撒盐点，景观中的盐分储存明显，在一年中没有向道路施盐的时期，EC 值高于背景水平。在接受佩里舍附近道路撒盐活动径流的地点，溪流大型无脊椎动物群落组成存在差异。寡毛类（蠕虫）（高达 11 倍）、Dugesiidae（扁虫）（高达 4 倍）和 Aphroteniinae（摇蚊）（高达 14 倍）的丰度增加，而 Leptophlebiidae（蜉蝣）的丰度减少了高达 100%与未撒盐的地点相比。在存在除冰盐的地方较少的分类群是毒性测试显示相对盐敏感的物种的相同分类群。本研究证明了在澳大利亚阿尔卑斯山接受道路除冰活动径流的溪流中，除冰盐、溪流盐度升高和大型无脊椎动物群落组成改变之间存在因果关系。
