Coal-mining intensity influences species and trait distributions of stream fishes in two Central Appalachian watersheds

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dc.contributor.authorMartin, Zachary P.en
dc.contributor.authorAngermeier, Paul L.en
dc.contributor.authorCiparis, Serenaen
dc.contributor.authorOrth, Donald J.en
dc.contributor.departmentFish and Wildlife Conservationen
dc.date.accessioned2021-02-22T19:57:34Zen
dc.date.available2021-02-22T19:57:34Zen
dc.date.issued2020-11-29en
dc.description.abstractDocumenting responses of biotic assemblages to coal-mining impacts is crucial to informing regulatory and reclamation actions. However, attributing biotic patterns to specific stressors is difficult given the dearth of preimpact studies and prevalence of confounding factors. Analysing species distributions and abundances, especially stratified by species traits, provides insights into how assemblage composition shifts occur. We evaluated stream habitats and fish assemblages along a mining intensity gradient in 83 headwater (2nd- and 3rd-order) streams of the upper Clinch and Powell river basins in Virginia. Our multivariate gradient (MINE.PC1) was based on percentages of watershed area covered by surface mine, underground mine and valley fill to represent spatial variance in mining intensity. MINE.PC1 was positively correlated with conductivity and percentage of substrate as cobble. Forty fish-assemblage metrics were analysed via boosted regression trees to assess assemblage responses to mining intensity, while accounting for environmental variation and spatial structure among sites. Conductivity and MINE.PC1 were strongly negatively related to occurrences of Fantail Darter (Etheostoma flabellare) and sculpin (Cottus) spp. Several taxonomic, trophic and reproductive metrics of assemblage composition responded strongly to mining intensity or its instream correlates. For example, coal mining favoured omnivore-herbivores, but inhibited invertivores, simple lithophils and nonsimple nonlithophils. We revealed distinct negative and positive responses to mining-related stressors, which suggest changes to macroinvertebrate prey availability and/or contaminant loads contribute to fish extirpations in coalfield streams. Future assessments of mining impacts on fish assemblages could be more instructive by including characterisations of physicochemical stressors and regionally calibrated biotic metrics with demonstrated sensitivity to mining.en
dc.description.adminPublic domain – authored by a U.S. government employeeen
dc.description.notesVirginia Center for Coal and Energy Research, Appalachian Research Institute for Environmental Science, Grant/Award Number: 000900en
dc.description.sponsorshipVirginia Center for Coal and Energy Research, Appalachian Research Institute for Environmental Science [000900]en
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1111/eff.12588en
dc.identifier.eissn1600-0633en
dc.identifier.issn0906-6691en
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10919/102422en
dc.language.isoenen
dc.rightsCC0 1.0 Universalen
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/en
dc.subjectassemblage structureen
dc.subjectbioassessmenten
dc.subjectboosted regression treesen
dc.subjectcoal&#8208en
dc.subjectmining gradienten
dc.subjectmining impactsen
dc.subjectspecies traitsen
dc.titleCoal-mining intensity influences species and trait distributions of stream fishes in two Central Appalachian watershedsen
dc.title.serialEcology of Freshwater Fishen
dc.typeArticle - Refereeden
dc.type.dcmitypeTexten
dc.type.dcmitypeStillImageen

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Scholarly Works, Fish and Wildlife Conservation
Destination Area: Global Systems Science (GSS)