Effects of afforestation on acidity and invertebrates in Danish streams and implications for freshwater communities in Denmark

The relationship between acidity and benthic invertebrate communities was investigated in two small streams in coniferous forests in central Jutland, Denmark, during 1992 and 1993. Stream pH was acid (mean pH 4.8 and 5.4) and alkalinity fluctuated greatly with mean values around zero. During rain events, water from springfed reaches upstream were mixed downstream with brown humic acid water with high aluminium content, and pH declined from circumneutral near the springs down to pH below 4 over a very short distance (0.5-1.5 km). The benthic invertebrate communities in the most acidic downstream reaches of both streams were dominated by filipalpian stoneflies, mainly Leuctra nigra (Olv.). Community composition remained very similar throughout the sampling period despite variations in pH. In the upper (neutral) reaches invertebrates intolerant of low pH such as Gammarus pulex L. were found. The concentrations of chloride and sulphate in the streams were more than double the concentrations in a nearby moorland stream indicating a strong impact of acidifying atmospheric deposition on the two forest streams. Results of this study indicate that afforestation with conifers on sandy Danish soils with low buffering capacity (about 25% of the total Danish land area) may lead to an increased acidification of surface waters and thereby also to an impoverished aquatic fauna.