Tuesday, May 27, 2008
338

Assessing recovery and potential composition of a benthic macroinvertebrate community following remediation in a polluted urban lake

Brandeis L. Brown, Kimberly L. Schulz, and Neil H. Ringler. Environmental and Forest Biology, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, 231 Illick Hall, Syracuse, NY 13210

Over 100 years of anthropogenic pollution in Onondaga Lake, NY, have led to sediments saturated with numerous toxic contaminants, limiting the benthic macroinvertebrate community.  Our objective was to determine whether the current restoration plan, including the dredging and capping of contaminated sediments, is sufficient to restore the macroinvertebrate community.  We used a field experiment to eliminate poor sediment quality as a factor in recovery and determine the naturally dispersing community pool of macroinvertebrates.  Hard (unglazed tiles) and soft substrates (planting pots with sterilized sediment), representing macroinvertebrate habitat, were deployed in the littoral zone of Onondaga Lake.  We repeated the experiment in Otisco Lake, a similar unpolluted lake in the same watershed which serves as a reference for the regional community and rates of dispersal.  Each month, substrates were collected and the number and taxon of colonists was assessed.  We compared the observed colonization by the macroinvertebrate community in Onondaga Lake to both the existing species composition in Onondaga Lake and the colonization measured in unpolluted Otisco Lake.  This study will help determine whether supplementing Onondaga Lake with local species after sediment remediation will assist a full recovery, and has implications for the effects of remediation to higher trophic levels. 


Web Page: remediation, recovery, pollution

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