Abstract
AbstractIn a previous study, we found that underlying geology, acidic precipitation, and acidic mine drainage (AMD) associated with coal extraction in the Monongahela River basin, West Virginia, interact to produce discrete water-quality types among streams, including: high-quality reference, soft, hard, transitional, and severely impaired AMD types. In this study, we tested the prediction that this discrete impairment template would produce correspondingly discrete benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages. Furthermore, we posited that unique macroinvertebrate genera would serve as strong indicators of each water-quality type. Macroinvertebrate assemblages were strongly influenced by stream water chemistry, and tests of compositional similarity identified statistical links with water-quality types. However, assemblage composition was highly variable within and among water-quality types, a finding that provides greater support for continuous than for discrete structure. High variability in assemblage composit...
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