2023 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference

March 5-7, 2023 • Cincinnati, OH

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5/24/2021 | 8:30 AM - 10:30 AM | ECOSYSTEM MODIFICATION AND NETWORK POSITION IMPACT CONTAMINANT FLUXES FROM A MOUNTAINTOP MINING-IMPACTED RIVER NETWORK | Virtual Platform

ECOSYSTEM MODIFICATION AND NETWORK POSITION IMPACT CONTAMINANT FLUXES FROM A MOUNTAINTOP MINING-IMPACTED RIVER NETWORK

Contaminants are transported from aquatic to terrestrial food webs through emerging aquatic insects, but in quantifying these fluxes we have largely focused on stream contaminant concentration as the driver of flux and have not considered other factors which impact insect production. We applied a recently published conceptual model to identify drivers of selenium (Se) fluxes from a river network draining mountaintop removal coal mines. We predicted that Se flux from a given site could be explained by its watershed mining extent, the presence of settling ponds, and network position (tributary vs. mainstem). Although mining extent drove insect Se concentration (p = 0.008, R2= 0.406), the presence of ponds and mainstem location were the primary drivers of Se flux because of their strong impact on emergence production. Median Se fluxes from ponded, mined tributaries were 18 times higher than those from unponded, mined tributaries and were comparable to fluxes from much larger mainstem sites. Thus, contaminant flux was greatest downstream of contaminant inputs or where ponds were created, implying that without capturing drivers of insect production, contaminant fluxes from the river network and accompanying risks to terrestrial predators can be underestimated.

Resource subsidies
Stream
Transport

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Presenters/Authors

Laura Naslund (), University of Georgia, laura.naslund@uga.edu;