Acid mine drainage (AMD) results from the oxidation of pyretic mineralogy, exposed by mining operations to oxygen and water. This reaction produces sulfuric acid and liberates heavy metals from the surrounding mineralogy and impairs water quality and freshwater communities. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has begun an ecosystem restoration project to remediate the abandoned mine land (AML) impacts to the North Fork Powell River (NFP) and is utilizing the ecotoxicological rating (ETR) system to delineate these affects to focus restoration efforts. The ETR was developed to summarize the integrative data into a single number ranging from 0 to 100, which is descriptive of the environmental integrity of a sampling station. The ETR is conceptualized to work as an academic grading scale (0 through 100), rating reference stations with A's (90-100) and B's (80-89) and impacted stations with C's (70-80), D's (60-70) and failures (F = 60). Two rounds of ETR investigations have evaluated seven headwater tributaries to the NFP including investigations of Ely and Puckett's Creek from 1997 and 1998. This thesis contains the results of the second series of ETR investigations at 41 stations in Cox Creek, Jone's Creek, Reed's Creek, Summers Fork, Straight Creek, and areas in the NFP. Eight stations were recommended for reclamation; CC 03, JCRF2 02, JCRF2 01, RCPS 09B, RCPS 11B, SULF 01, SU 02, and SU 01. Summers Fork was the most severely impacted watershed of the second round of ETR investigations. An effort to streamline the ETR to the most ecologically predictive parameters was successful in creating a system more time and cost efficient then the initial ETRs and exclusive of benthic macroinvertebrate surveys. The Modified ETR streamlined the ETR to just 5 parameters including; mean conductivity, mean Asian clam survival, mean aluminum (Al) and manganese (Mn) in the water column, and mean habitat score to describe the AMD impacts to small headwater streams. Also, an investigation was conducted to determine the mode of toxicity, (i.e., exposures to metal contaminated surface waters or sediments) by which Al and iron (Fe) dominated AMD impairs benthic macroinvertebrate communities. It was found that water column exposures both within and beyond the zone of pH depression are the most likely mode by which AMD impairs the benthic macroinvertebrate communities of the NFP. / Master of Science

Road construction and maintenance throughout the country continues to be one of the largest contributors of sediment pollution to aquatic systems. Though impacts of road networks on aquatic systems can be potentially severe, little work has been performed to evaluate the effect that road spatial location within a watershed has on water quality. To address this issue from a quantitative perspective, a "Road Impact Factor" protocol was designed to identify potential erosion-prone segments of road networks based on road gradient, spatial location based on hydrologic flow length, surface composition, and water control installations. The protocol was developed for two regions in Central Idaho and Eastern Oregon. We then used the hydrologic travel time procedure, developed for use in the Hydrologic Engineering Center Hydrologic Modeling System (HEC-HMS) runoff and routing model, in order to characterize the spatial distribution of potential road runoff impacts within the study areas. Ten macroinvertebrate metrics sensitive to sedimentation (i.e. % Intolerant Taxa, Hilsenhoff Biotic Index, etc.) were analyzed to test the significance of the spatial distribution of Road Impact Factors. These 10 metrics were analyzed under the hypothesis that values will be lower for those study areas that have a higher degree of road impact and a lower distance between the road segments and stream reaches. Results of a quadrant analysis and hierarchical clustering analysis showed hypothesized trends for several metrics in Idaho, though the trends were not strong. No trends were observed in Oregon. The variability in results is likely due to limitations of the input datasets. / Master of Science

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Ecology and Biodiversity / Master / Master of Philosophy

Les zones côtières sont des milieux privilégiés pour l’ostréiculture. L’espèce la plus cultivée au monde est l’huître creuse Crassostrea gigas, qui a été introduite dans de nombreux pays à des fins d’exploitation et qui, lorsqu’elle trouve des conditions climatiques favorables dans son nouveau milieu, se développe naturellement, en constituant des récifs. Dans le Bassin d’Arcachon, l’huître existe ainsi sous deux formes, cultivée et sauvage. La forme récifale est une structure tridimensionnelle complexe (huîtres agglomérées, au contact du sédiment, plusieurs classes d’âge présentes), alors que les huîtres cultivées sont placées en sur-élévation dans des poches ostréicoles (spécimens isolés, classe d’âge unique). L’effet respectif de ces deux configurations a été étudié selon trois approches : (1) comparaison de la dynamique des deux types de population d’huîtres (croissance, reproduction, composition biochimique), (2) effet de l’activité alimentaire sur les proies accessibles dans le milieu et les flux particulaires associés, et (3) effets des huîtres sur le sédiment et les communautés benthiques. Les deux années d’échantillonnage ont été marquées par un retard de la ponte (année 1) et un défaut de croissance (année 2) des huîtres, qui ont été rapprochées d’un déficit thermique en période estivale (année 1) et d’une disponibilité alimentaire plus faible au printemps (année 2) ; les cycles de reproduction sont apparus en léger décalage entre huîtres cultivées et sauvages. Une expérimentation in situ en tunnels benthiques à trois périodes de l’année a permis de quantifier les flux de matière et la consommation de nutriments et d’espèces planctoniques par les deux populations d’huître durant un cycle de marée. Le sédiment à proximité des huîtres est enrichi en particules fines et en matière organique, par suite de modifications locales de l’hydrodynamisme et de la production de fèces par les huîtres. Il en résulte une modification de la structure des peuplements de l’endofaune benthique. Les récifs d’huîtres sauvages constituent un nouvel habitat de substrat dur dans le Bassin d’Arcachon où n’existent naturellement que des habitats sédimentaires ; ils supportent une épifaune à fortes biomasse et diversité, qui accroît la biodiversité locale. / Coastal areas are favourable environments for oyster farming. The most commonly farmed species in the world is the cupped oyster Crassostrea gigas, which was introduced in many countries for aquaculture purposes. When it finds suitable climatic conditions in its new environment, the species develops naturally, thereby creating oyster reefs. In Arcachon Bay (SW France), the cupped oyster develops as both farmed and feral populations. Oyster reefs are complex tridimensional structures (agglomerated oysters, in contact with the sediment, populations with many any classes), while farmed oysters are cultivated off-bottom in plastic bags (isolated oysters, populations with a single age class). The respective effects of these two oyster configurations were studied according to three research axes: (1) a comparison of the dynamics of farmed and wild oyster populations, in terms of growth, reproduction, and biochemical composition; (2) the effect of oyster feeding on accessible preys and the associated particulate fluxes; and (3) the effects of oysters on the sediment and benthic communities. The two years of study were characterized by a delay in the spawning periods (year 1) and an unusually low growth rate (year 2) in oysters, which were related to low summer water temperatures (year 1) and a low food availability in spring (year 2); reproduction cycles also appeared slightly shifted between farmed and wild oysters. An in situ experiment with benthic tunnels at three periods of the year was designed to quantify the flux of matter and the consumption of nutrients and planktonic species by the two oyster populations during a tidal cycle. Sediment in the vicinity of oysters contained more fine particles and organic matter, due to changes in local hydrodynamism and oyster production of faeces. These sedimentary changes modified the structure of benthic infaunal assemblages. Oyster reefs form a new habitat of hard substrate in Arcachon Bay, where only sedimentary habitats naturally occur; they have an epifauna with high biomass and diversity, that increases the local biodiversity.

<p>The aim of this work is to analyze if a change in the benthic community can be detected two years after a restoration of a small stream. The samples were taken in a small stream at Tinnerö Eklandskap just south of Linköping. In addition to the restored area, two reference sites upstream and downstream of the restored area were sampled to compare to the restored site. The method used for sampling of benthic fauna in the stream was kick sampling. ASPT, Berger-Parker and Renkonen-indices were used to find out if there was any difference between the reference areas and the restored area. In addition to indices, rank-abundance curves and species lists were made to see if there was any trend difference between the different areas. The only index that showed a difference between the different areas was Berger-Parker diversity index. The reason why there were no greater differences between the areas may be due to the fact that two years is too short to allow time for the benthos to re-colonize the restored area.</p>

The aim of this work is to analyze if a change in the benthic community can be detected two years after a restoration of a small stream. The samples were taken in a small stream at Tinnerö Eklandskap just south of Linköping. In addition to the restored area, two reference sites upstream and downstream of the restored area were sampled to compare to the restored site. The method used for sampling of benthic fauna in the stream was kick sampling. ASPT, Berger-Parker and Renkonen-indices were used to find out if there was any difference between the reference areas and the restored area. In addition to indices, rank-abundance curves and species lists were made to see if there was any trend difference between the different areas. The only index that showed a difference between the different areas was Berger-Parker diversity index. The reason why there were no greater differences between the areas may be due to the fact that two years is too short to allow time for the benthos to re-colonize the restored area.

Measuring the impact of physical disturbance on macrofaunal communities and sediment composition is important given the increased demand for the exploitation and disturbance of marine ecosystems. The aim of the present investigation was to provide a comprehensive study about the extent to which the disturbance (especially aggregate dredging) may affect benthic ecosystem function. The first part of the thesis concerns a field investigation of the impacts of dredging on the benthic community and related ecosystem function which was measured by different approaches including traditional methods based on benthic community structure and a more novel approach based on the functional traits of benthic organisms. The assessment was done by comparing dredged sites (Area 222, southeast England) with nearby undisturbed reference sites from the years 2001 to 2004 and in 2007. In general, low dredging intensity did not appear to impose great impacts on the benthic community and related ecosystem function compared to the higher intensity activity. Most of the analyses suggested that the community at the high dredging intensity site had yet to recover at the end of this study period. Among many factors related to the recovery of the benthic community was sediment composition where gravel deposits appeared to support a faster biological recovery. Meanwhile, the recovery of species with specific traits, such as tube-building and filter feeding also indicate a faster recovery for the whole community. The experimental work to determine different impacts of Hediste diversicolor on its surrounding depending on its relative size is discussed in Appendix 1.

Submitted by Sandra Pereira (srpereira@ufrrj.br) on 2018-08-21T13:55:57Z No. of bitstreams: 1 2010 - Joaquim Neto de Sousa Santos.pdf: 1864983 bytes, checksum: e70ed9f5ee68c8f365819e496dbb0176 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-21T13:55:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2010 - Joaquim Neto de Sousa Santos.pdf: 1864983 bytes, checksum: e70ed9f5ee68c8f365819e496dbb0176 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-05-21 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cient?fico e Tecnol?gico, CNPq, Brasil. / Morphodynamism, extratification and seasonality are among the main factor to influence the composition and abundance of the macroinfauna in sandy beaches. The macroinfauna of two sandy beaches were sampled between winter-2005 and summer-2006 during low tide; one beach was protected (Flamengo beach) located in Guanabara bay, and the other was exposed to waves in the oceanic zone (Grumari beach). The hypothesis that the physical characteristics of the beaches determine the difference in composition and relative abundance of the macroinfauna was tested. Flamengo beach was characterized as dissipative and had comparatively higher t?xon richenes and lower biomass, when compared with Grumari beach that was classsified as reflective. In Flamengo beaches, higher abundance was recordded for Enoploides sp, and Emerita brasiliensis, whereas in Grumari beach Sacocirrus sp and E. brasiliensis were the most abundant taxons. The beaches showed highe dissimilarity in composition and relative abundance of the taxons (91.75%). Sacocirrus sp, Enoploides sp, Dispio uncinata, Scolelepis goodbobyi and E. brasiliensis explained 63.70% of the dissimilarity between the two beaches. In both beaches, we observed extratification in occurence and abundance of the macroinfauna in two seasons. Emerita brasiliensis occurred mainly in Grumary beach in the extrate 1 and Sacocirrus sp in extrate 2, while in Flamengo beach E. brasiliensis and Enoploides sp had the highest abundance in extrate 1 and S. goodbody and D. uncinata in extrate 3. The hypothesis that the macrofauna differs among extrate and beaches was accepted and the differences in composition and relative abundance of the macroinfauna were attributed to morphodynamism, althought other environmental factores can be influencing such differences. / O morfodinamismo, estratifica??o e a sazonalidade s?o os fatores mais importantes na determina??o da composi??o e abund?ncia da macroinfauna em praias arenosas. A macroinfauna de duas praias foi amostrada no inverno/2005 e ver?o/2006 durante a mar? baixa, sendo uma praia protegida (Flamengo) localizada na ba?a de Guanabara, e outra praia exposta localizada na zona oce?nica (Grumari). Foi testada a hip?tese que as caracter?sticas f?sicas das praias determinam diferen?as na composi??o e abund?ncia da macroinfauna. A praia do Flamengo foi caracterizada como dissipativa e apresentou maior riqueza de t?xons, e menor biomassa, quando comparada com a praia de Grumari classificada como refletiva. Na praia do Flamengo as maiores abund?ncias foram registradas para Enoploides sp, e Emerita brasiliensis, enquanto em Grumari foram Sacocirrus sp e E. brasiliensis. As praias apresentaram elevada dissimilaridade na composi??o e abund?ncia relativa dos t?xons (91.75%), Sacocirrus sp, Enoploides sp, Dispio uncinata, Scolelepis goodbobyi e E. brasiliensis explicaram 63.70% das diferen?as entre as praias. Em ambas as praias foram observadas estratifica??es na ocorr?ncia e abund?ncia da macroinfauna nas duas esta??es analisadas. Na praia de Grumari, E. brasiliensis ocorreu principalmente no estrato 1 e Sacocirrus sp no estrato 2, enquanto na praia do Flamengo E. brasiliensis e Enoploides sp apresentaram as maiores abund?ncias no estrato 1 e S. goodbodyi e D. uncinata no estrato 3. A hip?tese da varia??o na composi??o da macroinfauna entre os extratos foi aceita, e as diferen?as observadas na composi??o e abund?ncia da macroinfauna foram atribu?das ao morfodinamismo; no entanto, outros fatores ambientais podem estar relacionados com tais diferen?as.

Dissertação(mestrado) - Universidade Federal do Rio Grande, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Oceanografia Biológica, Instituto de Oceanografia, 2006. / Submitted by Cristiane Gomides (cristiane_gomides@hotmail.com) on 2013-10-17T13:43:14Z No. of bitstreams: 1 UBIRATAN.pdf: 576103 bytes, checksum: 0fac81f9a3f04dd09ac3273975e85872 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Sabrina Andrade (sabrinabeatriz@ibest.com.br) on 2013-10-17T16:35:25Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 UBIRATAN.pdf: 576103 bytes, checksum: 0fac81f9a3f04dd09ac3273975e85872 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-10-17T16:35:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 UBIRATAN.pdf: 576103 bytes, checksum: 0fac81f9a3f04dd09ac3273975e85872 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006 / Atividades de cultivos de camarão tendem a aumentar a taxa de sedimentação de matéria orgânica nos corpos hídricos receptores de seus efluentes, pela excessiva produção de produtos de excreção e sobras de ração. Dependendo das condições ambientais, o sistema pode não apresentar condições de autodepuração, gerando um grande acúmulo de nutrientes ao longo da camada sedimentar e intensificação do metabolismo bêntico, levando muitas vezes o ambiente a um processo de eutrofização e possível situação de anoxia. No presente estudo, utilizaram-se incubações in situ com câmaras bentônicas transparentes e opacas para avaliar o metabolismo bêntico em áreas de cultivo de camarão no estuário (cercados e viveiros). Nos cercados, ficou evidente que há uma clara interferência do cultivo nos processos de regeneração bêntica de nutrientes, incrementando os fluxos de nitrogênio (na forma de amônio) e fósforo (fosfato). O fluxo médio registrado nas câmaras opacas, ao final do período de cultivo, foi 52,8 mg.L-1 de amônio (N-NH 4+) e 5,41 mg.L-1 de fosfato (P-PO4 3-). Na fazenda de cultivo em viveiros, os fluxos de nutrientes e o consumo de oxigênio pelo sedimento foram geralmente mais elevados do que no cercado. Entretanto, o cultivo da fazenda possui escala comercial, ao passo que o cercado é experimental (pesquisa). Em função disto, próximo à despesca os valores de N-amônio do efluente chegaram a ser três ordens de grandeza superior aos do estuário. Mesmo assim, não foram desrespeitados os padrões de lançamento de efluentes estabelecidos pela legislação ambiental vigente. Embora a interferência desta atividade tenha se mostrado de abrangência local e temporária (apenas 4 a 5 meses do ano), é importante salientar que o Consumo de Oxigênio pelo Sedimento e o aporte de nutrientes oriundo da regeneração ganham maior importância em locais rasos e de circulação restrita, como é o caso das enseadas. É fundamental portanto que se façam estudos de zoneamento ambiental e de capacidade de suporte (capacidade de assimilação), determinando áreas de preferência para a expansão da atividade, quantificando também o número máximo de unidades suportados pelo meio, a fim de evitar ou minimizar os potenciais impactos ambientais negativos. / Shrimp farms activities tend to increase the organic matter sedimentation rate, by extreme inputs of excreta products and shrimp food (commercial shrimp diet) into the environment. In certain environmental conditions, the auto depuration system can be surpassed, generating a great production of nutrients at the sedimentary layer, as results of benthic metabolism intensification and, consequently the system can be induced to a eutrofication processes and anoxia. In the present study, in situ incubations with transparent and opaque chambers had been used to evaluate the benthic metabolism in shrimp farm areas in the Patos Lagoon estuary (pen enclosures and ponds). In the pen enclosures, it was evident that it has a clear interference of the culture in the processes of benthic regeneration of nutrients, resulting in increasing of phosphate and nitrogen fluxes (in the ammonium specie). The registered average flux in the opaque chamber, at the end of the period of culture, was 52,8 mg.L-1 of N-ammonium and 5,41 mg.L-1 of Pphosphate. In the pond shrimp farm, the fluxes of nutrients and the consumption of oxygen by the sediment were generally higher than the pen enclosures. However, the culture of ponds farm has a commercial scale, compared to the pen enclosures that is experimental (scientific research). In function of this, close to the shrimp harvest period the values of N-ammonium in the effluent had been 3 orders of magnitude higher than the pen enclosure. Besides that, the effluent values registered didn’t disrespect the values established by Brazilian environmental legislation. Even considering that this activity have a local and temporary distribution (only 4 to 5 months of the year), it is important to call attention to the sediment oxygen consumption and the input of nutrients deriving from the regeneration of organic matter which it’s enhanced in shallow waters and restricted circulation areas (as small bays), locations where shrimp culture is developed in the Patos Lagoon estuary. It’s important to study the environmental zoning and support capacity (assimilation capacity), to determine areas for expansion of the activity, also quantifying the maximum number of units supported by the environment, in order to prevent or to minimize the potential negative environmental impacts.

In this study, two different field experiments were designed to assess the relative influence of urbanization on benthic communities. During spring and summer, four urban and one reference sites from Denton County, Texas were selected for benthic macroinvertebrate evaluation. Statistically significant differences in colonized benthic macroinvertebrate taxa on artificial substrates were observed among the four urban sites and the reference site. Oligochaetes and chironomids were the dominant taxa at all sites. Identification of chironomid larvae at the subfamily and genus level to detect differences between sites had higher statistical power than the evaluation based on total chironomids. At the reference site, Caenis, Cladotanytarsus, Orthocladius, and Ceratopogonidae were the dominant taxa, while the urban sites were dominated by Dero, Physella, Ancylidae, Chironomus, Dicrotendipes, Glyptotendipes, Polypedilum, Pseudochironomus, Stenochironomus, and Tanytarsus. These differences may have been dependent upon differences in hydrologic regime and water quality between sites. Significant differences (ANOVA, p < 0.01) in water quality parameters (alkalinity, hardness, nitrates, phosphates, chlorides, sulfates, calcium, magnesium, potassium, and triazine) were found among water samples collected from the reference and urban sites. During the transfer period, most of the Ephemeroptera and Trichoptera taxa and a few other taxa disappeared from artificial substrates that were colonized at the reference site and then moved to the urban sites. Also, local abundant taxa from the urban site significantly (t test, p < 0.05) increased in number on the transferred artificial substrates. Seasonal differences in colonization patterns were also observed between the spring and summer experimental periods, which indicate that temporal variation is equally important, as is the anthropogenic effect in benthic community evaluation. Field survival and growth experiments using Erpetogomphus designatus larvae were designed to detect differences between evaluated sites. Larvae were collected from the reference site, measured in the laboratory, and exposed at the urban sites for six weeks in using specially designed cages. The exposed larvae demonstrated a higher mortality rate at the urban sites compared to the reference site.