Use of artificial oak log substrates to assess the impact of contaminants on soil macroinvertebrates
- Roy F. Weston, Inc., Edison, NJ (United States)
- Environmental Protection, Edison, NJ (United States)
Consideration of aquatic benthic macroinvertebrates can yield insight concerning the effects of chemical contamination on community structure and function. This approach has been used successfully to distinguish subtle changes in community response to water quality and watershed degradation. Analyses of this type however, has not been developed to the same extent for terrestrial soil macroinvertebrate communities. A number of factors, including sampling protocols and habitat variability, may inhibit efforts in this direction. An artificial substrate was developed that mimics a decaying oak log. These artificial logs are constructed of oak slats filled with various sized oak particles and measure approximately 7 cm x 7 cm x 30 cm. The substrates are deployed on the soil surface across a contaminant gradient and allowed to colonize. Following recovery, the logs are transported to a laboratory where they are disassembled, and the colonizers extracted for taxonomic, numeric, or other analyses. Since the artificial substrate community is a reflection of the endemic soil inhabitants, the results of this type of evaluation can be used in the assessment of ecological concerns associated with soil contamination. The practical and theoretical concerns of this method will be discussed along with the results of an initial trial at a metal contaminated site.
- OSTI ID:
- 367540
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9511137-; ISBN 1-880611-03-1; TRN: IM9640%%286
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 2. Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC) world conference, Vancouver (Canada), 5-9 Nov 1995; Other Information: PBD: 1995; Related Information: Is Part Of Second SETAC world congress (16. annual meeting): Abstract book. Global environmental protection: Science, politics, and common sense; PB: 378 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Downstream effects of mountaintop coal mining: comparing biological conditions using family- and genus-level macroinvertebrate bioassessment tools
Effects of heavy metals on benthic macroinvertebrate communities in New Zealand streams