Influence of Metal Contamination and Sediment Deposition on Benthic Invertebrate Colonization at the North Fork Clear Creek Superfund Site, Colorado, USA.

ABSTRACT: Assessing benthic invertebrate community responses to multiple stressors is necessary to improve the success of restoration and biomonitoring projects. Results of mesocosm and field experiments were integrated to predict how benthic macroinvertebrate communities would recover following the removal of acid mine drainage from the North Fork of Clear Creek (NFCC), a U.S. EPA Superfund site in Colorado, USA. We transferred reference and metal-contaminated sediment to an upstream reference site where colonization by benthic macroinvertebrates was measured over 30 days. Additionally, a mesocosm experiment was performed to test the hypothesis that patches of metal-contaminated substrate impede recolonization downstream. Abundance in all treatments increased over time during field experiments; how

SUBMITTER: Dabney BL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6008246 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature