Influence of in-stream diel concentration cycles of dissolved trace metals on acute toxicity to one-year-old cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki lewisi).

Extrapolating results of laboratory bioassays to streams is difficult, because conditions such as temperature and dissolved metal concentrations can change substantially on diel time scales. Field bioassays conducted for 96 h in two mining-affected streams compared the survival of hatchery-raised, metal-naïve westslope cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki lewisi) exposed to dissolved (0.1-microm filtration) metal concentrations that either exhibited the diel variation observed in streams or were controlled at a constant value.

Diel mercury-concentration variations in streams affected by mining and geothermal discharge.

Diel variations of concentrations of unfiltered and filtered total Hg and filtered methyl Hg were documented during 24-h sampling episodes in water from Silver Creek, which drains a historical gold-mining district near Helena, Montana, and the Madison River, which drains the geothermal system of Yellowstone National Park. The concentrations of filtered methyl Hg had relatively large diel variations (increases of 68 and 93% from morning minima) in both streams. Unfiltered and filtered (0.