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Biological Colonization of an Industrial Pond: Status After Two Decades

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

William H. Rickard ,
Richard E. Fitzner  and
Colbert E. Cushing
William H. Rickard
Affiliation:
Ecological Sciences Department, Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratories, Richland, Washington 99352, USA.
Richard E. Fitzner
Affiliation:
Ecological Sciences Department, Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratories, Richland, Washington 99352, USA.
Colbert E. Cushing
Affiliation:
Ecological Sciences Department, Battelle Pacific Northwest Laboratories, Richland, Washington 99352, USA.
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Extract

The biological status of an isolated, man-made pond established in 1957 is described principally after its first 20 years of existence. The pond is located in the dry sagebrush region of south-central Washington (USA), and is colonized by Bulrushes, Cattails, and numerous Algae. Migratory waterfowl were the first vertebrate users of the pond; and with the establishment of shoreline plant communities and submerged macrophytes, the pond now provides nesting habitat for several duck species, American Coots, and Pied-billed Grebes. Use of the pond by large mammals is limited to visits by Mule Deer, Coyotes, and Raccoons. There are no Muskrats or Beavers in the pond. Turtles and Garter Snakes are not found in or around the pond but are present in the near-by Columbia and Yakima Rivers. The absence of these vertebrate animals is attributed to the isolation of the pond and the absence of connecting surface waterways between the pond and the regional watercourses. The only fish in the pond are Goldfish—presumably of artificial introduction.

Some of the more sedentary pond organisms—aquatic arthropods, crustaceans, and snails—may have reached the pond in raw Columbia River water, or been transported as eggs externally attached to waterfowl, or possibly been voided into the pond along with avian faecal material.

The pond contains low levels of industrially-derived radionuclides—especially caesium-137. Radiocaesium is mostly confined to bottom sediments, but is readily assimilated by biota and so appears in all trophic levels. Some of the societal concerns and research potentials associated with the pond are discussed with special references to food-chain and biotic transport mechanisms.

Type
Main Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 8 , Issue 3 , Autumn 1981 , pp. 241 - 247
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1981

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