Gas drilling into the Marcellus Shale play has been linked to environmental issues, including potential impacts on wildlife. In 2009, three separate accidents occurred at two gas well sites in central Pennsylvania, USA that resulted in high levels of contaminants in Wallace Mine Fen and a headwater stream that flows through the fen. We collected water chemistry, vegetation, and amphibian data at the impacted fen and at a control fen in 2012 and 2013 to determine similarity of sites and the impacts of the contaminants. We also reviewed water chemistry reports generated by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection for data collected shortly after the accidents occurred to provide insight on the nature of the accidents. Ordinations of vegetation data, as well as water chemistry, showed that the two wetlands are similar and dominated by the same plant species and water chemistry. Historically, both wetlands provided habitat for amphibians. However, unlike in pre-accident amphibian data, we detected virtually no amphibians in the impacted Wallace Mine Fen, suggesting that amphibians were possibly negatively affected by gas-drilling accidents.

进入Marcellus页岩气田的天然气钻探与环境问题有关，包括对野生生物的潜在影响。2009年，在美国宾夕法尼亚州中部的两个气井场发生了三起单独的事故，这些事故导致华莱士矿粉中的污染物含量很高，并且流经分水道的源头水流出现。我们分别在2012年和2013年收集了受影响的和对照组的水化学，植被和两栖动物的数据，以确定地点的相似性和污染物的影响。我们还审查了宾夕法尼亚州环境保护局生成的水化学报告，以了解事故发生后不久收集的数据，以提供对事故性质的了解。植被数据的排序以及水化学 表明两个湿地是相似的，并且由相同的植物种类和水化学主导。历史上，两个湿地都为两栖动物提供栖息地。但是，与事故前的两栖动物数据不同，我们在受影响的华莱士矿山芬中几乎没有发现两栖动物，这表明两栖动物可能受到天然气钻井事故的负面影响。