Effects of Antimycin A Treament on Benthic Macroinvertebrates in Bear Creek; Tributary to Forney Creek, Great Smoky Mouuntans National Park
Etnier DA and Hulsey CD. 2005. Effects of Antimycin A Treament on Benthic Macroinvertebrates in Bear Creek; Tributary to Forney Creek, Great Smoky Mouuntans National Park. Knoxville, Tennessee
We sampled 6 sites in the Bear Creek system, GSMNP, Swain County, North Carolina, to determine the impact of the ichthyocide, antimycin, on benthic macroinvertebrate communities. Three control sites (2 upstream from and 1 downstream from the treatment area) and 3 treatment sites, all in Bear Creek proper, were sampled during October 2002 and March and June 2003 pre-treatment, and during March (4 months post-treatment), June, and Octorer 2004. Sampling calendar dates within these months were virtually identical. We anticipated that, under the alternate hypothesis of adverse impacts to benthic communities due to antimycin (1) at treatment sites there would be more EPT taxa and more total taxa in pre-treatment samples than in post-treatment samples, and that these differences would not be apparent at the control sites; (2) if recovery of the benthic community to pre-treatment conditions takes a year or more, treatment samples taken 4 months post-treatment should show more negative impact than those taken a year post-treatment at the treatment sites, but not at the control sites; and (3) pre-treatment/post-treatment similarity indices should be lower at treatment sites than at control sites. We did not detect any of these potential effects, and conclude that benthic communities are at pre-treatment conditions within 4 months post-treatment.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- Etnier, David; Hulsey, C
- Date of Issue
- 2005-01
- Units
- GRSM
- Keywords
- antimycin A, Benthic, Macroinvertebrates
- Subjects
- Ecological Framework: Water | Water Quality | Aquatic Macroinvertebrates and Algae , Ecological Framework: Biological Integrity | Focal Species or Communities | Freshwater Communities