Effects of metals and metal mixtures on aquatic insect communities in experimental streams: cadmium (Cd), cobalt (Co), copper (Cu), nickel (Ni), and zinc (Zn)

The objectives of the Metals Mixtures Project included developing quantitative models that describe and predict harm or lack thereof to aquatic organisms from multiple metals in mineralized rock drainages. Work consists of data analyses and model development using existing data, and original data from laboratory mesocosm and field studies. This product reports data generated from a series of four experiments conducted over four years, testing the toxicity of several metals with aquatic insect communities that were colonized in the field and then transferred and tested in experimental streams at the Fort Collins Science Center. The results are expected to be of interest to those preparing environmental impact statements to evaluate prospective new or expanding mining activities in relevant geologies, those evaluating remedial strategies for legacy mining operations, mining companies, ecological risk assessors, environmental managers, and other scientists. While the various mixture experiments should be relevant to a variety of mineralized watersheds, one emphasis of the project was to mimic and test conditions relevant to PGE (platinum-group elements) deposits in the North American Mid-Continental Rift/Duluth complex area of Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin.