Zooplankton Mortality Increases With Exposure to Dissolved Methane: Implications for Leaks From Hydraulically Fractured Gas Wells to Impact Freshwater Aquatic Communities

Hydraulic fracturing has become the method of choice for extracting natural gas from shale deposits in the United States. As time has passed, environmental concerns have been raised as a result of research from the EPA and independent organizations, though most of it has focused strictly on the consequences this has for human health and land use, and little has focused on its effects on trophic cascades. The purpose of this investigation was to determine whether small leaks from hydraulically fractured gas wells can have definitive consequences on aquatic ecosystems by focusing on the lower levels of the trophic cascade. Methane-infused microcosms of a lake ecosystem did not demonstrate a significant increase in living zooplankton, though they did show a significant increase in dead zooplankton. More research on the mechanism behind the increase in mortality is needed to determine the overall consequences of small-scale leaks into aquatic communities before additional wells are drilled in areas that may be at risk.