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Oswegatchie Oswegatchie-

• Black Stream Survey

Black Stream Survey 2003 2003-

• 2005

2005

Assessments of Adirondack Surface Water Chemistry

™ ™Primary focus on lakes since 1980’s. Primary focus on lakes since 1980’s. ™ ™Lakes serve as the index of acid rain effects. Lakes serve as the index of acid rain effects.

Lakes Lakes ≠ ≠ Streams Streams

• Important habitat.

Important habitat.

• Reflect terrestrial ecosystem.

Reflect terrestrial ecosystem.

• More prone to acidify than lakes.

More prone to acidify than lakes.

Stream Chemistry as an Ecosystem Stream Chemistry as an Ecosystem Index of Acid Rain Effects Index of Acid Rain Effects

1.

• 1. Integrates spatial variability of watershed processes.

Integrates spatial variability of watershed processes. 2.

• 2. Within stream processes don’t overwhelm the

Within stream processes don’t overwhelm the signal. signal. 3.

• 3. Link between terrestrial and lake

Link between terrestrial and lake ecosystems. ecosystems. 4.

• 4. Sensitive indicator, straightforward to measure.

Sensitive indicator, straightforward to measure.

Project Investigators

• Greg Lawrence, U.S. Geological Survey
• Karen Roy, Sue Capone, NYS

DEC/Adirondack Lake Survey Corporation

• Howard Simonin, NYS DEC, Fish, Wildlife and

Marine Res.

• Barry Baldigo, U.S. Geological Survey
• Sophia Passy, University of Texas at Arlington
• Robert Bode et al., NYS DEC Stream

Biomonitoring Unit

Adirondack Effects Assessment Program (AEAP) Colloborators

• Sandra Nierzwicki-Bauer, Chuck Boylen,

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY

• Jim Sutherland, Bob Bombard – New

York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation.

Project Tasks Project Tasks

• 1. 200-stream survey to assess acidification.
• 2. Macro-invertebrate sampling in 40 streams
• 3. Re-sampling of sites sampled in 1980’s.
• 4. Soil sampling of 12 watersheds
• 5. Periphytic diatom sampling, all streams.

Sampling Challenges Sampling Challenges

• Flow variations

Flow variations – – collection in 3 days. collection in 3 days.

• Accessibility

Accessibility – – sample 200 of 565 accessible sample 200 of 565 accessible sites. sites.

• Effects of lakes

Effects of lakes – – exclude streams with exclude streams with upstream lakes and ponds with > 25% upstream lakes and ponds with > 25% influence. influence.

Buck Creek Old Forge Cranberry Lake

Assessment Challenges

• Distinguishing between natural acidity and

pollution-derived acidity.

• Characterizing longitudinal variability

Buck Creek:

USGS RPI-AEAP NYSDEC

Stream Gages

Acid Neutralizing Capacity (ANC) Acid Rain Effects?

ANC (meq L-1)

150 100 50

• 50
• 100

100 50

• 50
• 100
• 2

North Tributary Buck Creek South Tributary Buck Creek

• 1

1 2 3

Flow (log10(L sec-1))

Base Cation Surplus

(Ca + Mg + Na + K) – (SO4 + NO3 + Cl) Base Cations – Acid Anions BC – AA

The Fundamental Problem: Mobilization of Inorganic Aluminum

5 10 15 5 10 15 5 10 15 South Tributary Extensive Streams North Tributary Inorganic Al (µmol L-1 )

x intercept = 81 x intercept = 50 x intercept = 54

• 100

100 200 300 BC-AA (µeq L-1)

Longitudinal Variations in Stream Chemistry

Base Cation Surplus (µmol L-1 )

• 100
• 50

50 100 50 100 150 200 1 2 3 4 Longitudinal Distance (km)

/04 3/1/04 3/8/04 3/15/04 3/22/04 3/29/04 4/5/04 2/23 Flow (L sec-1)

March 2004

120 100 80 60 40 20

Buck Creek

Inorganic Al (µmol L-1 )

2 4 6 8 10 12

March 26 -April 4 2004 Sampling Days

1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0

Flow (log L sec-1)

Results from Buck Creek Results from Buck Creek

• March 2004

March 2004 -

• sampling near peak acidity

sampling near peak acidity.

• Brook Trout Fingerlings

Brook Trout Fingerlings -

• 9

90% Mortality 0% Mortality with median Al of 6.0 with median Al of 6.0 µ µM for 10 days. M for 10 days.

22/03 29/03 /6/03 13/03 20/03 27/03 /3/03 Flow (L sec-1)

October 2003

1200 1000 800 600 400 200 9/ 9/ 10 10/ 10/ 10/ 11

Sampling Sampling Variations Variations

Date Date Site Site Coef

• Coef. of Variation (ANC)

. of Variation (ANC) Oct03 Oct03 28004 28004 59.0 % 59.0 % Oct03 Oct03 6020 6020 7.3 % 7.3 % Oct03 Oct03 29008 29008 12.3 % 12.3 % Mar04 Mar04 7024 7024 5.8 % 5.8 % Mar04 Mar04 28630 28630 15.0 % 15.0 % Mar04 Mar04 29008 29008 6.6 % 6.6 %

Preliminary Results Preliminary Results

Inorganic Al Inorganic Al ANC ANC pH pH Threshold Threshold 2.0 2.0 µ µM M 50 50 µ µeq eq L L-

• 1

1

6.0 6.0 October 03 October 03 54% 54% 66% 66% 64% 64% March March 04 04 45% 45% 70% 70% 64% 64%

*Thresholds from Driscoll et al. (Bioscience, 2001) *Thresholds from Driscoll et al. (Bioscience, 2001)

Stream Length Assessment

• Total stream length in study region = 4,322 km.
• Total accessable stream length = 1,237 km (28%).
• Total stream length sampled = 434 km (10%).
• Total stream length acidified, March 04 = 557 km.
• Total stream length not assessed = 3085 km.

Stream Macroinvertebrate Relations

Macroinvertebrate Acid Index 2 4 6 8 10 R=0.65

• 100

100 200 300 400 Base Cations - Acid Anions (µmol L-1)

Stream Macroinvertebrate Relations

Macroinvertebrate Acid Index 2 4 6 8 10 R2=0.53 p < 0.01 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 Inorganic Al (µmol L-1)

Independence River

pH 7.5 7.0 6.5 6.0 5.5 5.0 4.5

1980-82 2003-05 R2 = 0.65 R2 = 0.93

p < 0.05 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5

• 1)

Flow (log10 m sec

Base Cations - Acid Anions (µeq L-1)

Soil-Stream Chemistry Relationship

300

Upper B Horizon

200 100

p < 0.01

• 100

R2 = 0.42

• 200

0.00 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 0.30 Base Saturation

Base Cations - Acid Anions (µeq L-1)

Soil-Stream Chemistry Relationship

300

Oa Horizon

200 100

• 100

p < 0.01 R2 = 0.68

• 200

0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 Base Saturation

CONCLUSIONS

• Data analyses are
• ngoing.
• Stream acidification still

with us.

• Macroinvertebrate

community structure strongly tied to stream chemistry.

• Soil chemistry is

strongly related to high flow stream chemistry.