Trace metals in water and biota in and near headwater streams in the Colorado Mineral Belt

Publication Date

2021-01-28

Start Date

2011-08-02

End Date

2011-08-24

Kraus, J.M., Wolf, R.E., Todorov, Todor, Gibson, P.P., Wanty, R.B., Schmidt, T.S., and Walters, D.M., 2021, Trace metals in water and biota in and near headwater streams in the Colorado Mineral Belt: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9BLJCYP.

Type: Related Primary Publication

Aquatic insects link food web dynamics across freshwater-terrestrial boundaries and subsidize terrestrial consumer populations. Contaminants that accumulate in larval aquatic insects and are retained across metamorphosis can increase dietary exposure for riparian insectivores. To better understand potential exposure of terrestrial insectivores to aquatically-derived trace metals, we analyzed metal concentrations in water and tissues from different components of streams and riparian food webs across a large (2-3 orders of magnitude) metal concentration/contamination gradient in the Colorado Rocky Mountains (USA). The streams were sampled in late summer, after snowmelt runoff was complete and as the streams approached baseflow conditions. We collected enough tissue mass from 18 of these streams to make comparisons of metal concentrations between water and aquatic vegetation, aquatic insect larvae, aquatic insect adults and riparian spiders.

• Columbia Environmental Research Center (CERC)
• USGS Data Release Products