Negative impacts of mining on Neotropical freshwater fishes

Azevedo-Santos, Valter M.; Arcifa, Marlene S.; Brito, Marcelo F. G.; Agostinho, Angelo A.; Hughes, Robert M.; Vitule, Jean R.S.; Simberloff, Daniel; Olden, Julian D.; Pelicice, Fernando M.

doi:10.1590/1982-0224-2021-0001

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Review Article • Neotrop. ichthyol. 19 (03) • 2021 • https://doi.org/10.1590/1982-0224-2021-0001 copy

Negative impacts of mining on Neotropical freshwater fishes

Authorship SCIMAGO INSTITUTIONS RANKINGS

Abstract

Mining activities have significantly affected the Neotropical freshwater ichthyofauna, the most diverse in the world. However, no study has systematized knowledge on the subject. In this review, we assembled information on the main impacts of mining of crude oil, gold, iron, copper, and bauxite on aquatic ecosystems, emphasizing Neotropical freshwater fishes. The information obtained shows that mining activities generate several different disturbances, mainly via input of crude oil, metals and other pollutants, erosion and siltation, deforestation, and road construction. Mining has resulted in direct and indirect losses of fish diversity in several Neotropical waterbodies. The negative impacts on the ichthyofauna may change the structure of communities, compromise entire food chains, and erode ecosystem services provided by freshwater fishes. Particularly noteworthy is that mining activities (legal and illegal) are widespread in the Neotropics, and often located within or near protected areas. Actions to prevent and mitigate impacts, such as inspection, monitoring, management, and restoration plans, have been cursory or absent. In addition, there is strong political pressure to expand mining; if – or when – this happens, it will increase the potential of the activity to further diminish the diversity of Neotropical freshwater fishes.

Keywords:
Deforestation; Mercury; Oil spill; Roads; Silting

Sociedade Brasileira de Ictiologia Neotropical Ichthyology, Núcleo de Pesquisas em Limnologia, Ictiologia e Aquicultura, Universidade Estadual de Maringá., Av. Colombo, 5790, 87020-900, Phone number: +55 44-3011-4632 - Maringá - PR - Brazil
E-mail: neoichth@nupelia.uem.br

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[1] Edited-by

Paulo Pompeu

Waterbodies	Country	Year of spill	Amount (liters)	Negative impacts on fish diversity
Andean River to Lake Titicaca	Bolivia	2000	~4,734,642	Yes
Stream to the Barigui and after to the Iguaçu River	Brazil	2000	~4,000,000	Yes
Catatumbo River to Lake Maracaibo	Colombia (effects in Venezuela)	2001	~2,861,771	Possibly
Coatzacoalcos River	Mexico	2004	~794,937	Possibly
Coatzacoalcos River	Mexico	2011	~238,481	Yes
Catatumbo River to Lake Maracaibo	Colombia (effects in Venezuela)	2012	Unknown	Yes
Guarapiche River	Venezuela	2012	~10,175,204 to ~19,078,508	Yes
Coca River	Ecuador (effects in Peru)	2013	~1,825,174	Possibly
Lake - Unknown name	Peru	2014	Unknown	Yes
A tributary of the Marañón River basin	Peru	2014	~254,380	Yes
Stream - Unknown name	Peru	2014	Unknown	Yes
Stream - Unknown name	Brazil	2015	~600	Possibly
Chiriaco and Morona Rivers - 1	Peru	2016	~476,962	Possibly
Chiriaco and Morona Rivers - 2	Peru	2016	Unknown	Possibly
Stream - Unknown name	Peru	2016	Unknown	Possibly
Tepeyac stream and Coatzacoalcos River	Mexico	2018	Unknown	Yes
Streams, Sogamoso and Magdalena Rivers	Colombia	2018	~79,494 to ~87,443	Yes
Coca and Napo Rivers	Ecuador (effects in Peru)	2020	~2,384,809	Yes
Godineau River	Trinidad and Tobago	2020	Unknown	Possibly
Shiripuno River	Ecuador	2020	Unknown	Possibly

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Gold	Mercury	Puyango River basin	Ecuador	*Tarras-Wahlberg et al.* (2001)**Tarras-Wahlberg NH, Flachier A, Lane SN, Sangfors O. Environmental impacts and metal exposure of aquatic ecosystems in rivers contaminated by small scale gold mining: the Puyango River basin, southern Ecuador. Sci Total Environ. 2001; 278(1–3):239–61. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0048-9697(01)00655-6 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0048-9697(01)00...
Gold	Mercury	Tapajós River basin	Brazil	*Uryu et al.* (2001)**Uryu Y, Malm O, Thornton I, Payne I, Cleary D. Mercury contamination of fish and its implications for other wildlife of the Tapajós Basin, Brazilian Amazon. Conserv Biol. 2001; 15(2):438–46.
Iron	Various metals	Doce River	Brazil	*Fernandes et al.* (2016)Fernandes GW, Goulart FF, Ranieri BD, Coelho MS, Dales K, Boesche N et al. Deep into the mud: ecological and socio-economic impacts of the dam breach in Mariana, Brazil. Nat Conserv. 2016; 14(2):35–45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ncon.2016.10.003 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ncon.2016.10.0... ; Ferreira et al.(2020)Ferreira FF, Freitas MBD, Szinwelski N, Vicente N, Medeiros LCC, Schaefer CEGR et al. Impacts of the Samarco tailing dam collapse on metals and arsenic concentration in freshwater fish muscle from Doce River, Southeastern Brazil. Integr Environ Assess Manag. 2020; 16(5):622–30. https://doi.org/10.1002/ieam.4289 https://doi.org/10.1002/ieam.4289... ; Macêdo et al. (2020)Macêdo AKS, Dos Santos KPE, Brighenti LS, Windmöller CC, Barbosa FAR, de Azambuja Ribeiro RIM et al. Histological and molecular changes in gill and liver of fish (Astyanax lacustris Lütken, 1875) exposed to water from the Doce basin after the rupture of a mining tailings dam in Mariana, MG, Brazil. Sci Total Environ. 2020; 735:139505. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.139505 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020... ; Weber et al. (2020)**Weber AA, Sales CF, de Souza Faria F, Melo RMC, Bazzoli N, Rizzo E. Effects of metal contamination on liver in two fish species from a highly impacted neotropical river: A case study of the Fundão dam, Brazil. Ecotoxicol Environ Saf. 2020; 190:110165. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoenv.2020.110165 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecoenv.2020.11...
Iron	Various metals	Paraopeba River	Brazil	*Thompson et al.* (2020)Thompson F, Oliveira BC, Cordeiro MC, Mais BP, Rangel TP, Paz P et al. Severe impacts of the Brumadinho dam failure (Minas Gerais, Brazil) on the water quality of the Paraopeba River. Sci Total Environ. 2020; 705:135914. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.135914 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019... ; Vergilio et al. (2020)**Vergilio CS, Lacerda D, Oliveira BCV, Sartori E, Campos GM, Pereira ALS et al. Metal concentrations and biological effects from one of the largest mining disasters in the world (Brumadinho, Minas Gerais, Brazil). Sci Rep. 2020; 10:5936. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-62700-w https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-62700...

Mining	Decade of collapse	River affected (country)	References
Lead and zinc	1990	Pilcomayo River (Bolivia)	Garcia-Guinea, Harffy (1998)Garcia-Guinea J, Harffy M. Bolivian mining pollution: past, present and future. Ambio. 1998; 27:251–53
Gold	1990	Omai River (Guyana)	Vick (1996)Vick SG. Failure of the Omai tailings dam. Geotechnical News-Vancouver. 1996; 14:34–40.
Bauxite	2000	Murucupi River (Brazil)	*Silva et al. (2012)*Silva CS, Pereira SFP, Santos DC, Miranda RG, Rocha RM, Oliveira GR et al. The statistical application on assessment of the balance environmental restoration of the river Murucupi – Barcarena – PA –After the release of red mud. Proceed Safety Health Environment World Congress. 2012; 12:59–63.
Iron	2010	Doce River (Brazil)	*Fernandes et al. (2016)*Fernandes GW, Goulart FF, Ranieri BD, Coelho MS, Dales K, Boesche N et al. Deep into the mud: ecological and socio-economic impacts of the dam breach in Mariana, Brazil. Nat Conserv. 2016; 14(2):35–45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ncon.2016.10.003 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ncon.2016.10.0...
Iron	2010	Paraopeba River (Brazil)	*Cionek et al. (2019)Cionek VM, Alves GHZ, Tófoli RM, Rodrigues-Filho JL, Dias RM. Brazil in the mud again: lessons not learned from Mariana dam collapse. Biodivers Conserv. 2019; 28:1935–938. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-019-01762-3 https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-019-01762... ; Thompson et al. (2020)Thompson F, Oliveira BC, Cordeiro MC, Mais BP, Rangel TP, Paz P et al. Severe impacts of the Brumadinho dam failure (Minas Gerais, Brazil) on the water quality of the Paraopeba River. Sci Total Environ. 2020; 705:135914. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.135914 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019... ; Vergilio et al. (2020)*Vergilio CS, Lacerda D, Oliveira BCV, Sartori E, Campos GM, Pereira ALS et al. Metal concentrations and biological effects from one of the largest mining disasters in the world (Brumadinho, Minas Gerais, Brazil). Sci Rep. 2020; 10:5936. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-62700-w https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-62700...

Waterbodies	Country	Year of spill	Amount (liters)	Negative impacts on fish diversity
Bambana River	Nicaragua	1978	Unknown	Possibly
Omai and Essequibo Rivers	Guyana	1995	~1,230,258,830 to ~3,000,000,000	Yes
Several waterbodies	Panama	1998	Unknown	Possibly
Lara River	Honduras	2003	Unknown	Yes
Lara River	Honduras	2009	~568	Yes
San Sebastián River	El Salvador	Unknown	Unknown	Possibly
Puyango-Tumbes River	Ecuador	Unknown	Unknown	Possibly
Tributary of Velhas River	Brazil	2011	Unknown	Yes
Several waterbodies	Argentina	2015	1,000,000	Possibly
Piaxtla River	Mexico	2018	200	Yes
Tapajós River	Brazil	2018	Unknown	Possibly

Siltation reason	Disturbance	Country	References
Pasture	Decrease of the integrity of fish assemblages	Brazil	Casatti (2004)Casatti L. Ichthyofauna of two streams (silted and reference) in the upper Paraná River basin, southeastern Brazil. Braz J Biol. 2004; 64(4):757–65. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1519-69842004000500004 https://doi.org/10.1590/S1519-6984200400...
Agriculture	Affect negatively the functional diversity	Brazil	*Dala-Corte et al. (2016)*Dala-Corte RB, Giam X, Olden JD, Becker FG, Guimarães TF, Melo AS. Revealing the pathways by which agricultural land-use affects stream fish communities in South Brazilian grasslands. Freshw Biol. 2016; 61(11):1921–934. https://doi.org/10.1111/fwb.12825 https://doi.org/10.1111/fwb.12825...
Mining	Decrease in fish diversity	Brazil	Lin, Caramaschi (2005)Lin DSC, Caramaschi EP. Responses of the fish community to the flood pulse and siltation in a floodplain lake of the Trombetas River, Brazil. Hydrobiologia. 2005; 545:75–91. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-005-2186-x https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-005-2186-...
Mining	Reduction of fish diversity	Suriname	Mol, Ouboter (2004)Mol JH, Ouboter PE. Downstream effects of erosion from small-scale gold mining on the instream habitat and fish community of a small Neotropical rainforest stream. Conserv Biol. 2004; 18(1):201–14. https://www.jstor.org/stable/3589131 https://www.jstor.org/stable/3589131...

Deforestation type	Disturbance	Country	References
Agriculture and pasture	Changes in density	Ecuador	Bojsen, Barriga (2002)Bojsen BH, Barriga R. Effects of deforestation on fish community structure in Ecuadorian Amazon streams. Freshw Biol. 2002; 47(11):2246–260. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2427.2002.00956.x https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2427.2002...
Pasture	"Negative threshold responses"	Brazil	*Brejão et al. (2018)*Brejão GL, Hoeinghaus DJ, Pérez-Mayorga MA, Ferraz SFB, Casatti L. Threshold responses of Amazonian stream fishes to timing and extent of deforestation. Conserv Biol. 2018; 32(4):860–71. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13061 https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13061...
Pasture and agriculture	Alterations in both taxonomic and functional features	Brazil	*Casatti et al. (2012)*Casatti L, Teresa FB, Gonçalves-Souza T, Bessa E, Manzotti AR, Gonçalves CS, Zeni JO. From forests to cattail: how does the riparian zone influence stream fish? Neotrop Ichthyol. 2012; 10(1):205–14. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1679-62252012000100020 https://doi.org/10.1590/S1679-6225201200...
Pasture	Changes in species composition	Brazil	*Costa et al. (2020)*Costa ID, Petry AC, Mazzoni R. Fish assemblages respond to forest cover in small Amazonian basins. Limnologica. 2020; 81:125757. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.limno.2020.125757 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.limno.2020.125...
Pasture and agriculture	Alterations in the size of fishes	Brazil	*Ilha et al. (2018)*Ilha P, Schiesari L, Yanagawa FI, Jankowski K, Navas CA. Deforestation and stream warming affect body size of Amazonian fishes. PLoS ONE. 2018; 13(5):e0196560. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0196560 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.019...
Agriculture	Increase of abundance of some species	Brazil	*Ilha et al. (2019)*Ilha P, Rosso S, Schiesari L. Effects of deforestation on headwater stream fish assemblages in the Upper Xingu River Basin, Southeastern Amazonia. Neotrop Ichthyol. 2019; 17(1):e180099. https://doi.org/10.1590/1982-0224-20180099 https://doi.org/10.1590/1982-0224-201800...
Agriculture	Change in functional composition	Brazil	*Leitão et al. (2018)*Leitão RP, Zuanon J, Mouillot D, Leal CG, Hughes RM, Kaufmann PR et al. Disentangling the pathways of land use impacts on the functional structure of fish assemblages in Amazon streams. Ecography. 2018; 41:219–32. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ecog.02845 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ecog.02845...
Pasture and grassland	“Functional changes”	Brazil	*Lobón-Cerviá et al. (2016)*Lobón-Cerviá J, Mazzoni R, Rezende CF. Effects of riparian forest removal on the trophic dynamics of a Neotropical stream fish assemblage. J Fish Biol. 2016; 89(1):50–64. https://doi.org/10.1111/jfb.12973 https://doi.org/10.1111/jfb.12973...
Pasture	Changes in abundance	Costa Rica	Lorion, Kennedy (2009)Lorion CM, Kennedy BP. Riparian forest buffers mitigate the effects of deforestation on fish assemblages in tropical headwater streams. Ecol Appl. 2009; 19(2):468–79. https://doi.org/10.1890/08-0050.1 https://doi.org/10.1890/08-0050.1...
Pasture	Change in functional groups	Brazil	*Teresa et al. (2015)*Teresa FB, Casatti L, Cianciaruso MV. Functional differentiation between fish assemblages from forested and deforested streams. Neotrop Ichthyol. 2015; 13(2):361–70. https://doi.org/10.1590/1982-0224-20130229 https://doi.org/10.1590/1982-0224-201302...
Pasture	Changes in richness and abundance	Brazil	*Virgilio et al. (2018)*Virgilio LR, Ramalho WP, Silva JCB, Susçuarana MS, Brito CH, Soares LJ. Does riparian vegetation affect fish assemblage? A longitudinal gradient analysis in three Amazonian streams. Acta Sci Biol Sci. 2018; 40:e42562. https://doi.org/10.4025/actascibiolsci.v40i1.42562 https://doi.org/10.4025/actascibiolsci.v...