Legacy and Current‐Use Contaminants in Sediments Alter Macroinvertebrate Communities in Southeastern US Streams

• Published in: Environmental toxicology and chemistry Vol. 39; no. 6; pp. 1219 - 1232
• Main Authors: Moran, Patrick W., Kemble, Nile E., Waite, Ian R., Mahler, Barbara J., Nowell, Lisa H., Van Metre, Peter C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-05-2020
• Subjects: Amphipoda - drug effects; Amphipoda - growth & development; Animals; Bed load; Benchmarks; Brominated hydrocarbons; Bromination; Chemical sediments; Chironomidae - drug effects; Chironomidae - growth & development; Contaminants; Contaminated sediments; Contamination; Environmental Monitoring - methods; Ethers; Evaluation; Flame retardants; Geologic Sediments - chemistry; Invertebrates; Macroinvertebrates; Metals; Mixture; Organic compounds; Organochlorine pesticides; PCB; Pesticides; Polychlorinated biphenyls; Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons; Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons - toxicity; Public domain; Quality assessment; Quality control; Quotients; Rivers - chemistry; Sediment chemistry; Sediment pollution; Sediment samplers; Sediments; Southeastern United States; Streams; Toxicity; Toxicity testing; Toxicity Tests; Urban areas; Urbanization; Water Pollutants, Chemical - analysis; Water Pollutants, Chemical - toxicity; Southeastern United States; Southeastern states; United States > US; Invertebrates; Sediments; Toxicity; Mixture; Streams; Pesticides
• ISSN: 0730-7268; 1552-8618
• DOI: 10.1002/etc.4705

Sediment contamination of freshwater streams in urban areas is a recognized and growing concern. As a part of a comprehensive regional stream‐quality assessment, stream‐bed sediment was sampled from streams spanning a gradient of urban intensity in the Piedmont ecoregion of the southeastern United States. We evaluated relations between a broad suite of sediment contaminants (metals, current‐use pesticides, organochlorine pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls, brominated diphenyl ethers, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons), ambient sediment toxicity, and macroinvertebrate communities from 76 sites. Sediment toxicity was evaluated by conducting whole‐sediment laboratory toxicity testing with the amphipod Hyalella azteca (for 28 d) and the midge Chironomus dilutus (for 10 d). Approximately one‐third of the sediment samples were identified as toxic for at least one test species endpoint, although concentrations of contaminants infrequently exceeded toxicity benchmarks. Ratios of contaminant concentrations relative to their benchmarks, both individually and as summed benchmark quotients, were explored on a carbon‐normalized and a dry‐weight basis. Invertebrate taxa measures from ecological surveys tended to decline with increasing urbanization and with sediment contamination. Toxicity test endpoints were more strongly related to sediment contamination than invertebrate community measures were. Sediment chemistry and sediment toxicity provided moderate and weak, respectively, explanatory power for the similarity/dissimilarity of invertebrate communities. The results indicate that current single‐chemical sediment benchmarks may underestimate the effects from mixtures of sediment contaminants experienced by lotic invertebrates. Environ Toxicol Chem 2020;39:1219–1232. Published 2020. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.
Circles indicate three data sources of the sediment quality triad and evaluated in the present study. Center list indicates those compounds that best explained community and toxicity reponses. Background photograph is of Nancy Creek at West Wesley Rd at Atlanta, GA, a stream typical of those evaluated.