Effects of Elemental Phosphorus on the Biota of Yellow Lake, Pine Bluff Arsenal, Arkansas, March 1974--January 1975.

摘要

The effect of wastewaters contaminated with elemental phosphorus on the biota of a shallow lake was investigated during a year. The wastewaters were discharged from a white phosphorus munitions-filling facility at Pine Bluff Arsenal, Arkansas. Species abundance and distribution of benthic macroinvertebrates were affected by the concentration of elemental phosphorus in the water and sediments of a shallow Arkansas lake which received wastewater from a munitions filling operation. Samples were collected from 18 stations in a 200-acre lake for macroinvertebrate sediment analyses and water chemistry. From species diversity (d), cluster analysis, and the index of biotic similarity (B), seasonal and spatial patterns of macroinvertebrate distribution were identified and compared. Limnodrilus hoffmeisteri was the most abundant species in samples taken from the stations nearest the source of elemental phosphorus at all times of the year. Tanypus stellatus and Chironomus plumosus were the most abundant species collected in July. Branchiura sowerbyi was generally present in high densities at stations where L. hoffmeisteri was uncommon and B. sowerbyi was absent from the most highly contaminated locations where L. hoffmeisteri predominated. Principal factor analysis of chemical-physical data showed that the concentration and distribution of elemental phosphorus was the most significant of the factors affecting station groupings.