The effects of motorway runoff on freshwater ecosystems: 1. Field study

The effects of motorway runoff on the water quality, sediment quality, and biota of small streams were investigated over a 12-month period. Downstream of motorway runoff discharges there was an increase in the sediment concentrations of total hydrocarbons, aromatic hydrocarbons, and heavy metals and an increase in the water concentrations of heavy metals and selected anions. Hydrocarbon contamination of sediments was positively correlated with potential contaminant loading (i.e., length of road drained/stream size). The greatest effect was observed at Pigeon Bridge Brook, a small stream receiving drainage from a 1,500-m stretch of the Ml motorway. The dominant PAHs in contaminated sediment at this site were phenanthrene, pyrene, and fluoranthene, whereas the dominant metals were zinc, cadmium, chromium, and lead. Differences between the station upstream and downstream of discharges in the diversity and composition of the macroinvertebrate assemblages were detected in four out of the seven streams surveyed. However, there was no evidence of an effect on either the diversity or abundance of epilithic algae. The diversity of the aquatic hyphomycete assemblage was only affected at the most impacted site. Reductions in macroinvertebrate diversity were associated with reductions in the processing of leaf litter and a change from an assemblage based on benthic algae and coarse particulate organic matter to one dependent upon fine particulate organic matter.

[1]  M. T. Furse,et al.  The performance of a new biological water quality score system based on macroinvertebrates over a wide range of unpolluted running-water sites , 1983 .

[2]  C. N. Hewitt,et al.  An integrated budget for selected pollutants for a major rural highway. , 1990, The Science of the total environment.

[3]  T. Baekken.  Effects of highway pollutants on a small Norwegian lake , 1994 .

[4]  R. Harrison,et al.  The chemical composition of highway drainage waters I. Major ions and selected trace metals , 1985 .

[5]  J. Quinn,et al.  CHRONIC HYDROCARBON DISCHARGES INTO AQUATIC ENVIRONMENTS: II-URBAN RUNOFF AND COMBINED SEWER OVERFLOWS , 1987 .

[6]  F. Bärlocher.  The role of fungi in the nutrition of stream invertebrates , 1985 .

[7]  Robert C. Brown,et al.  Hydrocarbon contamination in sediments from urban stormwater runoff , 1985 .

[8]  M. Smith,et al.  Effect of rural highway runoff on stream benthic macroinvertebrates , 1983 .

[9]  C. Hawkins,et al.  Longitudinal and Seasonal Changes in Functional Organization of Macroinvertebrate Communities in Four Oregon Streams , 1981 .

[10]  T. Arsuffi,et al.  Degradation, growth, and changes in palatability of leaves colonized by six aquatic hyphomycete species , 1984 .

[11]  J. M. Hellawell.  Biological indicators of freshwater pollution and environmental management , 1986 .

[12]  E. Cox.  Studies on the algae of a small softwater stream. II, Algal standing crop (measured by chlorophyll-a) on soft and hard substrata , 1990 .

[13]  C. Extence.  The effects of motorway construction on an urban stream , 1978 .

[14]  P. S. Dixon,et al.  The effects of oils and oil components on algae: A review , 1976 .

[15]  J. Quinn,et al.  Accumulation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in crankcase oil. , 1988, Environmental pollution.

[16]  R. Harrison,et al.  The chemical composition of highway drainage waters II. Chemical associations of metals in the suspended sediment , 1985 .

[17]  Steve Beresford,et al.  Roadwork: Theory and Practice , 1981 .

[18]  G. Minshall,et al.  The River Continuum Concept , 1980 .

[19]  M. Werner,et al.  Consequences of oil pollution on the decomposition of vascular plant litter in freshwater lakes: Part 2—nutrient exchange between litter and the environment , 1984 .

[20]  D. Jenkinson,et al.  A comparative study of titrimetric and gravimetric methods for the determination of organic carbon in soil , 1973 .

[21]  M. J. Mackenzie,et al.  Contribution of urban runoff to hydrocarbon pollution. , 1979, Journal - Water Pollution Control Federation.

[22]  L. Berglind,et al.  Pollution transport from a highway , 1984 .

[23]  R. Harrison,et al.  The chemical composition of highway drainage waters III. Runoff water metal speciation characteristics , 1985 .

[24]  N. K. Kaushik,et al.  fate of the dead leaves that fall into streams , 1971 .

[25]  Charles Matthew Bueler.  Feeding Preference of Pteronarcys Pictetii (Plecoptera: Insecta) From a Small, Acidic, Woodland Stream , 1984 .

[26]  R. Seymour,et al.  Role of microbial enriched detritus in the nutrition of Gammarus minus (Amphipoda) , 1976 .

[27]  G. Stotz,et al.  Investigations of the properties of the surface water run-off from federal highways in the FRG , 1987 .

[28]  D. M. Rosenberg,et al.  Community and Species Responses of Chironomidae (Diptera) to Contamination of Fresh Waters by Crude Oil and Petroleum Products, with Special Reference to the Trail River, Northwest Territories , 1976 .

[29]  M. Werner,et al.  Consequences of oil pollution on the decomposition of vascular plant litter in freshwater lakes: Part 1—Decomposition rates and dissolved oxygen utilisation , 1984 .

[30]  J. Webster,et al.  Factors affecting food utilization by a leaf shredding aquatic insect: leaf species and conditioning time , 1983 .

[31]  E. Gjessing,et al.  Effect of highway runoff on lake water quality , 1984 .

[32]  M. J. Mackenzie,et al.  Sources and fates of aromatic compounds in urban stormwater runoff , 1979 .

[33]  T. Bates,et al.  Sources and transport of hydrocarbons in the Green-Duwamish River, Washington. , 1984, Environmental science & technology.

[34]  H. Egglishaw.  The Distributional Relationship between the Bottom Fauna and Plant Detritus in Streams , 1964 .

[35]  R. Fisher,et al.  The Relation Between the Number of Species and the Number of Individuals in a Random Sample of an Animal Population , 1943 .

[36]  J. Metcalfe,et al.  Biological water quality assessment of running waters based on macroinvertebrate communities: history and present status in Europe. , 1989, Environmental pollution.

[37]  J. Quinn,et al.  Petroleum hydrocarbons in urban runoff from a commercial land use area , 1982 .

[38]  R. Gambrell,et al.  The effects of high levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons on sediment physicochemical properties and benthic organisms in a polluted stream , 1987 .

[39]  J. Quinn,et al.  Stormwater runoff from highways , 1985 .

[40]  M. Grottker.  Runoff quality from a street with medium traffic loading , 1988 .

[41]  J. L. Fasching,et al.  Sources of petroleum hydrocarbons in urban runoff , 1990 .

[42]  F. Bärlocher,et al.  Effects of Cadmium on Aquatic Hyphomycetes , 1984, Applied and environmental microbiology.

[43]  B. Simoneit,et al.  Extractable organic matter in urban stormwater runoff. 2. Molecular characterization. , 1981, Environmental science & technology.

[44]  M. T. Bomboi,et al.  Hydrocarbons in urban runoff: Their contribution to the wastewaters , 1991 .

[45]  J. Wright,et al.  An appraisal of pond-net samples for biological monitoring of lotic macro-invertebrates☆ , 1981 .

[46]  C. Shearer,et al.  COMPARISON OF THREE TECHNIQUES FOR THE STUDY OF AQUATIC HYPHOMYCETE COMMUNITIES , 1983 .

[47]  M. Lock,et al.  The effects of synthetic crude oil on microbial and macroinvertebrate benthic river communities—Part I: Colonisation of synthetic crude oil contaminated substrata , 1981 .

[48]  Y. A. Yousef,et al.  Highway Runoff Quality, Environmental Impacts and Control , 1991 .

[49]  J. B. Ellis,et al.  Polyaromatic hydrocarbon distributions in sediments of an urban catchment , 1985 .

[50]  K. Cummins,et al.  Structure and Function of Stream Ecosystems , 1974 .

[51]  C. N. Hewitt,et al.  Removal rates of selected pollutants in the runoff waters from a major rural highway. , 1992 .

[52]  Chronic Pollution of Intercity Motorway Runoff Waters , 1985 .

[53]  R. Shutes.  The influence of surface runoff on the macro-invertebrate fauna of an urban stream , 1984 .

[54]  M. L. Murphy,et al.  Effects of Canopy, Substrate Composition, and Gradient on the Structure of Macroinvertebrate Communities in Cascade Range Streams of Oregon , 1982 .

[55]  R. Cole,et al.  Preliminary findings of the Priority LJ Pollutant Monitoring Project of the Nationwide Urban Runoff Program , 1984 .

[56]  J. Davis,et al.  Benthic invertebrates as indicators of urban and motorway discharges. , 1987, The Science of the total environment.

[57]  S. Nilsson.  Freshwater hyphomycetes : taxonomy, morphology and ecology , 1964 .

[58]  V. Grigoriadis,et al.  Measurements of some low molecular-weight oxygenated, aromatic, and chlorinated hydrocarbons in ambient air and in vehicle emissions , 1985 .

[59]  M. Stenstrom,et al.  Oil and Grease in Urban Stormwaters , 1984 .

[60]  R. Wenning,et al.  Chemometric comparisons of polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxin and dibenzofuran residues in surficial sediments from Newark Bay, New Jersey and other industrialized waterways , 1992 .

[61]  W. J. Matthews,et al.  Biotic and Abiotic Controls in River and Stream Communities , 1988, Journal of the North American Benthological Society.

[62]  P. Calow,et al.  The effects of motorway runoff on freshwater ecosystems. 2: Identifying major toxicants , 1995 .

[63]  George Charlesworth,et al.  A History of British Motorways , 1994 .

[64]  J. Vestal,et al.  Effects of Petroleum Hydrocarbons on Plant Litter Microbiota in an Arctic Lake , 1982, Applied and environmental microbiology.

[65]  E. Andrulewicz,et al.  Hydrocarbons in water, sediment and mussels from the southern Baltic Sea , 1983 .

[66]  J. B. Ellis,et al.  Hydrocarbon accumulation in freshwater sediments of an urban catchment , 1982 .