Macroinvertebrate recolonization and water quality characteristics of a reconstructed stream after surface coal mining in northwestern Pennsylvania, USA

ABSTRACT Water quality and the size and composition of macro-invertebrate communities in a first order stream were compared prior to and after its relocation by surface mining. These parameters were also compared with those obtained from an unaffected stream in the adjacent watershed. Aside from the possibiblity of elevated stream temperatures in late summer, relocation did not adversely affect water quality. The number of taxa re-colonieing the relocated stream did not differ significantly from those present in the stream prior to raining. There was, however, a change in the composition of the taxa comprising invertebrate community. The morphology and the resultant channel morphology affected the type of organism that recolonized the stream. In the future, the channel morphology and the riparian vegetation should be duplicated as closely as possible during channel reconstruction.