Benthic macroinvertebrate communities in five rivers of the Coastal Hudson Bay Lowland

As a precursor to developing a biomonitoring program for rivers of the Coastal Hudson Bay Lowland, this study characterized and compared the benthic macroinvertebrate communities and water chemistry in 5 remote, previously undescribed, rivers near Fort Severn, Ontario, Canada. The pH of river water ranged from 8.1 to 8.7, total phosphorus from 11 to 26 μg L−1, dissolved organic carbon from 8 to 12 mg L−1, and chloride from 56 to 153 mg L−1. A total of 57 benthic macroinvertebrate taxa were represented, and the 10 most numerically dominant were the Chironominae (26 % of collected individuals), Orthocladiinae (16 %), oligochaetous clitellata (9 %), Hyalellidae (7 %), Hydropsychidae (6 %), Gammaridae (5 %), Elmidae (5 %), Sphaeriidae/Pisidiidae (4 %), Nemata (3 %), and Tanypodinae (3 %). Rivers’ positions in ordinations of chemical and biological datasets were similar, suggesting that water chemistry has a role in structuring riverine benthic communities in the study region. Correlations between water-chemistry or habitat predictors and site-scores in the ordination of benthic macroinvertebrate taxa counts suggested that biological community structure was most associated with river-water pH, nutrient concentrations (e.g., total phosphorus, nitrogenous compounds, dissolved organic carbon, calcium, and silicate), the relative abundance of submerged macrophytes, conductivity (i.e., the concentrations of chloride and various other dissolved ions), and several geomorphological variables (e.g., bank-full river width, current speed, and the size of the dominant inorganic particles in the pavement layer of the streambed). Interest in mineral extraction and other resource-based exploration in Ontario’s Far North is increasing. This study represents a start on baseline characterization for ecological monitoring and cumulative effects assessment that should proceed along with northern development.