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Communication at the NABS Annual meeting, Keystone, 2000
(264) BLACK GOLD OR TOXIC GOO? INFLUENCE OF NATURAL OIL SEEPAGE ON STREAM MACROINVERTEBRATE COMMUNITIES IN SOUTHWESTERN ONTARIO.
S.A. Geoghegan and R.H. Green. Department of Zoology, Ecology and Evolution Group, University of Western Ontario, Ontario, Canada N6B 5N7
The impacts of oil contamination on benthic stream communities are typically related to an anthropogenic source. The presence of naturally occurring oil seepage in a stream bed serves as an effective model for understanding the effects of chronic organic pollutants on macrobenthic invertebrate communities. Samples of benthic macroinvertebrates (BMI) were collected at 5 oil seepage sites along Bear Creek in Southwestern Ontario. A further 6 uncontaminated sites were selected as reference sites to investigate differences in macroinvertebrate abundance, diversity and distribution. The possibility of organic enrichment was investigated using stable carbon isotopes. Samples of seeping oil,FPOM, leaf litter and benthic algae were collected and their stable isotope content were determined. Results indicate that little difference exists in the abundance of BMI between oil seep and reference sites. However, community diversity differs significantly between oil seep and reference sites. Results of isotope analysis indicate that differences exist in the energetic pathways between oiled and reference sites. Understanding the influence of naturally occurring chronic organic contamination on the structure of benthic food webs allows better understanding and management of similar anthropogenic insults.
Presented at 11:15 AM on Thursday, June 1, 2000 in Ecotoxicology
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