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COEUR D'ALENE AND PRIEST LAKES, IDAHO. A COMPARISON OF THE MACROINVERTEBRATE COMMUNITIES OF A TRACE ELEMENTS ENRICHED LAKE AND AN UNCONTAMINATED LAKE IN NORTH IDAHO: THE EFFECTS OF MINE WASTE CONTAM
Description:
Macroinvertebrates were sampled at 4 depths along several transects in Coeur dAlene Lake, Idaho (17010303), an oligotrophic lake enriched by mine waste trace elements and Priest Lake, Idaho (17010304), an unimpacted oligotrophic lake of similar size, flow, and parent geology. Taxa were examined at the order and family levels for within and between lake differences and for correlations between taxa abundance, and proportional abundance to water trace element concentrations of Al, Sb, As, Ba, Be, Cd, Cr, Co, Cu, Fe, Pb, Mn, Mo, Ni, Se, Ag, and Zn. Water trace elements in Coeur dAlene Lake were elevated relative to background concentrations in Priest Lake for Al, Sb, Cd, Cu, Fe, Pb, Mn, Ni, and Zn. Trace elemental burdens in the macroinvertebrate communities of Coeur dAlene Lake were higher than concentrations in the Priest Lake communities for Al, Sb, As, Ba, Cd, Cr, Co, Cu, Pb, Mn, Ni, Ag, and Zn. Within Coeur dAlene Lake, community trace element burdens were consistently higher in the deep water sites. Significant differences in abundance and proportional abundance were found between Coeur dAlene Lake and Prist Lake communities at the 20m and 40m depths. Deep water Priest Lake communities were dominated by species of chironominae and sphaeriinae. Deep water communities in Coeur dAlene Lake were dominated by nematophora, tricladidae, and oligochaetae with a notable absence of chironomid and sphaeriid taxa. Sublittoral communities at 5m and 10m depths within the impact area of Coeur dAlene Lake were dominated by amphipoda, isopoda, tanypodinae, and oligochaetae. Priest Lake sublittoral communities were primarily dominated by chironominae and tanypodinae. Ruud, D.F. 1996. A Thesis presented to Eastern Washington University, Cheney, WA. 65 pp.