Consequences of acid mine drainage for the structure and function of benthic stream communities: a review
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Streams affected by acid mine drainage (AMD) are highly stressed ecosystems and occur worldwide. These streams typically have low pH, high concentrations of dissolved metals, and substrata coated with metal hydroxide precipitates. This combination of chemical and physical stressors creates a challenging environment for aquatic biota. We provide a synthesis of the effects of AMD on stream food webs to provide a holistic perspective of these highly stressed ecosystems. First, we reviewed the effects of AMD on the structure and function of algal, microbial, invertebrate, and fish communities. Then, we used this published information to propose generalized food webs and identify areas for future research. In general, AMD-affected streams have depauperate communities that are dominated by a few tolerant species, and ecosystem processes (e.g., decomposition) are often impaired. Biota respond differently to the individual stressors (e.g., pH compared to precipitates), which may complicate remediation efforts that focus primarily on neutralizing acidity and removing metals from mine discharges. Food webs in these streams are substantially altered because basal resources are less productive or inaccessible, microbial processing of organic matter is slow, many grazers and shredders are absent, and fish are replaced by invertebrates as top predators. Structurally, declines in species diversity and the loss of fish shorten and simplify food webs by decreasing the number of interactions among species. Functionally, most energy pathways are weakened by disrupted trophic links, and this problem should to be a key target of restoration efforts. We think research that focuses on species interactions in a foodweb context is needed to provide a better understanding of community organization and functioning in these highly stressed ecosystems.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.003 | 0.003 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.002 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 0.001 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".