A new study published today by journal PLOS ONE has revealed that mountaintop removal mining poses a more serious and widespread threat to endangered species and people than was previously understood. The researchers from Defenders of Wildlife's Center for Conservation Innovation (CCI) and conservation technology nonprofit SkyTruth, combine water-quality data with satellite imagery of mountaintop removal mining activity to estimate the full extent of water-quality degradation attributable to the practice at the landscape level.
"This research really emphasizes the interconnectedness of ecosystems and how distant human activity can have ripple effects that aren't immediately apparent," said CCI's Senior Conservation Data Scientist Mike Evans. "Being able to assess impacts at a landscape scale opens a completely new door for conservation."
Mountaintop removal is a coal-mining method that clearcuts forests and then uses explosives to remove top soil and bedrock, which is often dumped in nearby valleys. The method's negative impacts on water quality is well known, but this research is now revealing the extent of the damage.
The research found that chronic and acute toxicity thresholds for chemicals like aluminum, copper, lead and manganese as well as acidity levels in streams were exceeded thousands of times—including in areas of critical habitat—far removed from where the mines actually are. Previously, it was thought impacts were contained to the immediate area around...
Read Full Story: https://phys.org/news/2021-11-mountaintop-worse-endangered-species-thought.html
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