Rapid Assessment of Benthic Faunal Responses to a Small Petroleum Spill in a Headwaters Stream

ABSTRACT

On 9 May 2003, approximately 500 liters of home heating oil leaked from a point-source into Hemlock Creek, a high-quality trout stream in New York. Three days after the spill, we sampled aquatic insect communities along a 300 m gradient from an upstream reference site downstream through the potentially-contaminated reach to assess impacts on benthic fauna. Generic-level biotic indices reflected no significant variation corresponding to the spill, and insect community composition at various points along the stream gradient did not differ from that of a reference site. Our rapid assessment indicated that this small spill exerted no appreciable impacts on benthic fauna, and future spills may be monitored similarly, especially when investigative resources are limited.