Recovery of Coldwater Ecosystems Following Treatment of Abandoned Mine Drainage:
Looking Beyond Water Quality to Determine Successful Treatment
Shawn Rummel, Ph.D.Field and Research Coordinator
Trout Unlimited, Eastern Abandoned Mine [email protected]
Outline• Impacts of AMD on
aquatic ecosystems• Prioritizing areas for
successful recovery• Biological recovery in the
Twomile Run watershed• Morphometrics of brook
trout– Direct and Indirect effects
of AMD on brook trout
Impact of AMD on Aquatic Ecosystems• Water Quality
– Decreased pH– Increased metal concentrations; Fe, Al, Mn
• Habitat– Precipitating metals often coat substrate (limits benthic
macroinvertebrate habitat and fish spawning habitat)• Benthic Macroinvertebrates & Fish
– Loss of pollution sensitive taxa– Decreased growth, reproduction, or death– Increased avoidance behavior or movements for mobile
organisms– Dissolved metals are toxic to fish (Al > 0.5 mg/L)– High metal concentrations interrupt respiration in fish
Effects on Invertebrates
Sub-Lethal Effects on Fish
Sub-lethal
AMD
Small Stream Food Web
AMD Treatment• Passive Treatment
– Series of ponds (filled with limestone and organic material) & wetlands to increase pH and precipitate heavy metals
• Active Treatment– basic chemicals such as
hydrated lime, quick lime, or soda ash, are added to the water. This increases the pH and removes metals.
• Remining
Objectives of AMD Treatment
• Although objectives may vary amongst projects, typically there are two main objectives of AMD treatment:
1. Improve water quality
2. Restore ecological function• Restore native fish populations
Passive Treatment in PA
Scarlift Report1972
Benchmark Project2009
Conservation Success Index (CSI)• Developed for all native salmonids
in North America• 20 indicator variables
– Range-wide condition, habitat integrity, population integrity, and future security
• 1st Tier Analysis:– ID most important opportunities for
protection, reconnection, restoration, reintroduction, and monitoring
• 2nd Tier Analysis:– Info on small population persistence,
metapopulation dynamics, climate change, energy development, and invasive species
– Used to inform management decisions
Pennsylvania CSI
Biological Recovery in Middle Branch (Twomile Run)
• Objective:– Document recovery of benthic macroinvertebrates
and fishery over time following passive treatment of AMD
• MB treatment system rehabilitated in 2007
Mean (St.Dev.) Water Quality Data
MB UPS Raw Discharge MB DWS (before)
MB DWS (after)
pH 5.49 (0.37) 3.21 (0.27) 4.56 (0.61) 5.94 (0.36)
Cond (µS) 41.72 (19.13) 886.14 (524.58) 200.68 (83.74) 105.06 (35.67)
Alkalinity (mg/L) 3.64 (1.91) 0 (0) 1.30 (2.20) 9.61 (8.06)
Acidity (mg/L) 7.31 (3.62) 230.65 (208.33) 33.58 (18.14) 3.46 (4.35)
Fe (mg/L) 0.08 (0.09) 3.33 (4.89) 0.19 (0.18) 0.12 (0.13)
Mn (mg/L) 0.04 (0.05) 10.87 (6.21) 1.33 (0.81) 0.16 (0.08)
Al (mg/L) 0.12 (0.10) 29.97 (26.91) 3.72 (2.86) 0.24 (0.20)
• What should successful restoration look like? What is the end goal of project?
• Important to establish realistic control sites to monitor success of restoration project• Unimpaired areas
within the watershed • Unimpaired areas in
adjacent watersheds with similar characteristics
Benthic Macroinvertebrates
DWS Treatment UPS
2008 2010 2012 2013 2012
Total Abundance 3 46 124 235 225
Total Taxa Richness 3 7 15 21 15
EPT Taxa Richness 1 6 8 9 8
% Sensitive Individuals 33.3 97.8 55.6 40.0 47.6
IBI Score* 30.4 53.9 56.7 53.0 55.7
Brook Trout Recoveryin Middle Branch
a) Density of Brook Trout b) Size Class Distributionof Brook Trout
Pennsylvania CSI
PA Unassessed Waters Initiative• PA has >86,000 miles of streams/rivers (2nd only to Alaska)• 58,000 waters have not been surveys• UWI launched in 2010 by PFBC in collaboration with 15 partners (as
of 2013)
PA Unassessed Waters Initiative2010 2011 2012
PFBC Partners 88 438 626
PFBC Staff 217 304 261
Total305 742 887
(516 miles) (1,762 miles) (2,057 miles)
3 year total – 1,934 streams sampled; 4,335 miles of stream
175 new streams added to the wild trout list (516 miles of wild trout water)
PA Unassessed Waters Initiative2009 2012
• Highlights the importance of completing proper assessments prior to any restoration/improvement project.
• Do not just rely on DEP designation or PFBC status of stream• Examine if/what biological data currently exist
Objectives:1. Test for differences in invertebrate density
and diversity between an unimpacted stream and a stream with sub-lethal AMD impact.
2. Test for differences in brook trout body shape between an unimpacted stream and a
stream with sub-lethal AMD impact.
Morphological Differences in Brook TroutCollaboration between LHU and TU
Electroshocking
Surber Sampler
Results: Direct Impacts of Sub-lethal AMD on Invertebrates
Unimpacted Sub-Lethal AMD Isolated
Density (#/m2) 228.0 53.1 112.5
Species Richness
17 8 14
EPT Richness 11 3 7Percent EPT .837 .585 .467Simpson’s Diversity Index .796 .881 .802
Biotic Index 1.79 3.01 3.32
Traditional Morphometrics and Digital Photographs:
Use of photographs and landmarks to identify locations to measure between.
Geometric Morphometrics: Utilize the X and Y coordinates of landmarks to conduct multivariate analyses.
Step 1: Adjusts all fish to the same size (scaling).
Step 2: Calculates the average shape fish (the average location of each landmark). = Consensus configuration
Step 3: Compares the landmark locations for each fish to the average landmark location.
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Above AMD
Below AMD
Larrys Creek
Fatter
SkinnierRW1: 20.7%RW2: 15.5%
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Disproportionately Large Mouths
Disproportionately Small Mouths
RW3: 11.9%
Summary - Morphometrics
• Invertebrates: There is lower density and diversity of invertebrates in sub-lethal AMD streams
• Trout: Trout are skinnier in sub-lethal AMD streams
• Within isolated site, entire range of skinny to fat fish present
Ongoing/Future Research
• Continue long-term biological data set on post-treatment recovery– Expand to other watershed to investigate trends in
recovery• Expand morphological study• Age structure and growth rate comparisons• Brook trout movement and genetics in
isolated systems• Thermal impacts of passive treatment systems
Conclusions• Important to prioritize AMD restoration work,
especially if goal is to restore native fish populations – Target areas with adequate source populations
• On-the-ground biological surveys are necessary pre- and post-remediation of AMD
• Long-term data sets are rare, but necessary to understand if biological restoration is successful– Important to communicate this point to potential
funders that are often most interested in short-term outcomes and “shovel-ready” projects