Analysis of Acid Mine Drainage Impacted Streams Using a Periphyton Index

Abstract

ABSTRACT Fifteen stream segments in an acid mine drainage (AMD) impacted basin were sampled for periphyton, measured for water chemistry and evaluated for physical habitat in June, August and October in order to assess stream quality. Periphyton index of biotic integrity (PIBI) scores for individual stream segments varied among sampling dates, with the June and October scores being significantly different (p<4.05). The PIBI scores were correlated with six water chemistry variables in August and with at least one variable indicative of AMD in June and October. However, the PIBI scores and the individual metrics were generally not correlated to the measures of physical habitat. Non-metric multi-dimensional scaling (NMS) of water chemistry data identified four groups of streams—reference streams, heavily impacted streams, and two groups of moderately impacted streams. The same groupings were not evident in the NMS biplots of the PIBI scores, but the heavily impacted stream and reference stream groups were distinguished for the June and August data. When the PIBI scores were re-calculated using only the correlated six water chemistry variables, the NMS biplot for the August data distinguished the four groups from the water chemistry data.