Abstract
Following a spill of more than 94.4 m3 of unleaded gasoline into Wolf Lodge Creek in northern Idaho, impacted areas were mechanically agitated to release substrate-trapped hydrocarbons by dragging a bulldozer blade with a tightly wound chainlink fence attached to it backward over the substrate. Portions of two riffles were left unagitated to determine if differential recovery of benthic macroinvertebrates and periphyton in cleaned vs uncleaned areas of the stream would occur. Chlorophyll a concentrations and densities of most macroinvertebrates were significantly lower (P ⩽ 0.05) in raked areas 12 days after stream cleaning. However, macroinvertebrate and periphyton community compositions were very similar 1 month after stream cleaning and for the remainder of the study. In spite of similar recovery times of macroinvertebrates and periphyton in raked and nonraked areas, the cleaning process is viewed as beneficial because it minimized possible chronic effects on the biota without causing substantial additional impact.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allan JD (1975) The distributional ecology and diversity of benthic insects in Cement Creek, Colorado. Ecology 56:1040–1053
American Public Health Association, American Water Works Association, Water Pollution Control Federation (1980) Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater, 15th edn. American Public Health Association, Washington DC, 1134 pp
Baumann RW, Gaufin AR, Surdick RF (1977) The Stoneflies (Plecoptera) of the Rocky Mountains. Am Entomol Soc, College Park, MD, 208 pp
Bjornn TC, Brusven MA, Molnau MP, Milligan JH, Klamt RA, Chaco E, Schaye C (1977) Transport of granitic sediment in streams and its effects on insects and fish. College of Forestry Wildlife and Range Sciences, Univ of Idaho, Bulletin 17
Bray JR, Curtis JT (1957) An ordination of the upland forest communities of southern Wisconsin. Ecol Monogr 27:325–349
Bugbee SL, Walter CM (1973) The response of macroinvertebrates to gasoline pollution in a mountain stream. In:Proc. joint conf. on prevention and control of oil spills. American Petroleum Institute, Washington, DC, pp 725–731
Clifford HF (1982) Effects of periodically disturbing a small area of substratum in a brown-water stream of Alberta, Canada. Freshwater Invert Biol 1:39–47
Clifford HT, Stephenson W (1975) An introduction to numerical classification. Academic Press, New York, 229 pp
Ganning B, Reish DJ, Straughan D (1984) Recovery and restoration of rocky shores, sandy beaches, tidal flats, and shallow subtidal bottoms impacted by oil spills. In:Cairns J, Buikema A (eds) Restoration of habitats impacted by oil spills. Butterworth Publ, Stoneham, MA, pp 7–36
Gersich FM, Brusven MA (1981) Insect colonization rates in near-shore regions subjected to hydroelectric power peaking flows. Freshwater Ecol 1:231–236
Gilpin BR, Brusven MA (1976) Subsurface sampler for determining vertical distribution of stream-bed benthos. Progr Fish Cult 38:192–194
Jensen SL (1966) The Mayflies of Idaho (Ephemeroptera). MS Thesis, Univ of Utah, Salt Lake City, 367 pp
McAlpine JF, Peterson BV, Shewell GE, Teskey HJ, Vockeroth JR, Wood DM (eds) (1981) Manual of neartic Diptera, 1:1-674. Research Branch, Agric Canada, Monograph no. 27, Canadian Government Publishing Centre, Hull, Quebec
Meehan WR (1971) Effects of gravel cleaning on bottom organisms in three southeast Alaska streams. Prog Fish Cult 33:107–111
Merritt RW, Cummins KW (1978) An introduction to the aquatic insects of North America. Kendall/Hunt Publ Co, Dubuque, IA, 441 pp
— (1984) An introduction to the aquatic insects of North America, 2nd edn. Kendall/Hunt Publ Co, Dubuque, IA, 722 PP
Minshall GW, Minshall JN (1977) Microdistribution of benthic invertebrates in a Rocky Mountain (U.S.A.) stream. Hydrobiologia 55:231–249
Osborne LL (1983) Colonization and recovery of lotic epilithic communities:A metabolic approach. Hydrobiologia 99:29–36
Pearson RG, Jones NV (1975) The effects of dredging operations on the benthic community of a chalk stream. Biol Conserv 8:273–278
Pontasch KW, Brusven MA (in press a) Diversity and community comparison indices:assessing macroinvertebrate response following a gasoline spill. Water Research
- (in press b) Macroinvertebrate response to a gasoline spill in Wolf Lodge Creek, Idaho, USA, Archiv Hydrobiol
- (in press c) Periphyton response to a gasoline spill in Wolf Lodge Creek, Idaho. Can J Fish Aquat Sci
Sokal RR, Michener CD (1958) A statistical method for evaluating systematic relationships. Univ of Kansas Sci Bull 38:1409–1438
USCG (1983) Polluting incidents in and around U.S. waters. United States Coast Guard Report, COMDTINST M16450.2E, US Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 72 pp
United States Geological Survey (1964) Mineral and Water Resources of Idaho. US Government Printing Office, Washington DC, 335 pp
Usinger RL (ed) (1956) Aquatic insects of California. Univ of Calif Press, Berkeley, CA, 508 pp
Waters TF (1964) Recolonization of denuded stream bottom areas by drift. Trans Amer Fish Soc 93:311–315
Weber CI (1973) Recent developments in the measurement of the response of plankton and periphyton to changes in their environment. In:Glass GE (ed) Bioassay techniques and environmental chemistry. Ann Arbor Sci Publ Inc, Ann Arbor, MI, pp 119–138
Wiggins GB (1977) Larvae of the north american caddisfly genera (Trichoptera) Univ. of Toronto Press, Toronto Canada, 401 pp
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Pontasch, K.W., Brusven, M.A. Macroinvertebrate and periphyton response to streambed agitation for release of substrate-trapped hydrocarbons. Arch. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 18, 545–553 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01055021
Received:
Revised:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01055021