SESSION III. Summary and Overview: Long-Term Effects of Oil Spills on Marine Intertidal Communities

1978 ◽  
Vol 35 (5) ◽  
pp. 791-795 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. H. Mann ◽  
R. B. Clark
Keyword(s):  
Oil Spills ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Intertidal Communities

not available

SUBLETHAL INJURY TO RED MANGROVES TWO YEARS AFTER OILING1

1997 ◽  
Vol 1997 (1) ◽  
pp. 1040-1041 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sally C. Levings ◽  
Stephen D. Garrity ◽  
Edward S. Van Vleet ◽  
Dana L. Wetzel
Keyword(s):  
Shoot Growth ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Specific Growth ◽  
Petroleum Products ◽  
Fuel Oil ◽  
Detailed Data ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Sublethal Injury ◽  
Species Specific

ABSTRACT More than 300,000 gallons of refined petroleum products were discharged near the entrance to Tampa Bay, Florida on August 10, 1993. Floating slicks and sunken oil patty (no. 6 fuel oil) subsequently entered Boca Ciega Bay through John's Pass and washed or stranded on four mangrove keys inside the pass. Between one and two years after the spill, surviving red mangroves showed graded negative responses to oil in 4 of 4 measures of shoot growth and production. Sublethal, long-term effects of oil spills may be more common than reported, but detection requires detailed data on species-specific growth and production patterns with respect to oiling.

EFFECTS OF EXPERIMENTAL CRUDE OIL SPILLS ON TAIGA AND TUNDRA VEGETATION OF THE CANADIAN ARCTIC

1975 ◽  
Vol 1975 (1) ◽  
pp. 517-525 ◽  
Author(s):  
T.C. Hutchinson ◽  
W. Freedman
Keyword(s):  
Crude Oil ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Black Spruce ◽  
Energy Budgets ◽  
Ground Vegetation ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Tundra Vegetation ◽  
Short And Long Term ◽  
Vegetation Species

ABSTRACT Summer and winter crude oil spills have been made on tundra and taiga sites in arctic Canada. The short- and long-term effects of these spills have been recorded, to date, over a 3-year period. Spills were made by even surface spraying and by high intensity point spills. The vegetation present prior to such spills was carefully recorded. All surface spills had a devastating effect on above-ground vegetation. Species did, however, differ markedly in both their ability to survive an oil spill and their ability to recover. Many species, especially lichens, mosses, and liverworts, were killed outright. Some woody and dwarf shrubs were able to produce new, healthy shoots within a few weeks of initial defoliation. The reduced production of storage material, as a result of foliage (and photosynthetic) loss, caused markedly increased plant losses by winter-killing factors. Flowering and reproduction were severely reduced, even in the third summer following a spill. Winter spills had significantly less effect than summer spills. Permafrost was little affected, despite changes in the site energy budgets. Damage appeared greater in exposed taiga sites than on the tundra. Some species, such as black spruce, died throughout a 3-year period, emphasizing the necessity for long-term studies for accurate assessment.

scholarly journals Long-term reproductive impairment in a seabird after the Prestige oil spill

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 20131041 ◽  
Author(s):  
Álvaro Barros ◽  
David Álvarez ◽  
Alberto Velando
Keyword(s):  
Oil Spill ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Marine Organisms ◽  
Supporting Evidence ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Reproductive Impairment ◽  
Long Term Consequences ◽  
The Impact

Large oil spills are dramatic perturbations on marine ecosystems, and seabirds are one of the worst affected organisms in such events. It has been argued that oil spills may have important long-term consequences on marine organisms, but supporting evidence remains scarce. The European shag ( Phalacrocorax aristotelis ) was strongly impacted at population level by the Prestige oil spill, the biggest spillage in the eastern North Atlantic. In this paper, we report on the long-term consequences on reproduction of this coastal seabird, using temporal and spatial replicated data (before–after–control–impact design). Our study revealed long-term reproductive impairment during at least the first 10 years since the Prestige oil spill. Annual reproductive success did not differ before the impact, but after the impact it was reduced by 45% in oiled colonies compared with unoiled ones. This is a rare documentation of long-term effects after a major oil spill, highlighting the need for long-term monitoring in order to assess the real impact of this type of disturbance on marine organisms.

Some conclusions regarding long -term biological effects of some major oil spills

1982 ◽  
Vol 297 (1087) ◽  
pp. 335-351 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Oil Spills ◽  
Biological Effects ◽  
Biologically Active ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Sediment Grain Size ◽  
Petroleum Fractions ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Time Courses

Many of the world ’s major spills exhibit long-term consequences, associated mainly with lagoons, estuaries and marshes. This is due to the persistence of oil or petroleum fractions in these low-energy environments. The bioavailability of residual oil to infauna is influenced by several factors, such as solubility in water, feeding habit, weathering rate and sediment grain size. The time-courses for these long-term effects vary, but may run into decades for some community perturbations. The effects are at all levels of organization, including cellular, organismic and the community. Although the number of documented long-term effects is small, they involve a wide range of biological processes: development, genetic, growth, feeding and assimilation, photosynthesis, recruitment and fecundity, and community stability. It is important to note that the known effects are probably only representative of a much wider range of possible disorders that have occurred, but which have not been detected. This is due mainly to the selective nature of spill follow-up studies. Long-term spill consequences are generally local phenomena and so far no single spill has, to our limited knowledge, significantly altered entire ecosystems or materially affected fisheries. The combination of several spills can, however, place considerable stress on an environment. Also, so far there is no indication of an increasing mutagenic or carcinogenic load in the marine environment due to biologically active petroleum fractions or to carcinogenic or mutagenic metabolites. There is, however, the possibility of local build-up of these compounds, as in ‘hydrocarbon sink’ areas, where such a burden may become a local problem .

ASSESSING THE RECOVERY OF COASTAL WETLANDS FROM OIL SPILLS

1993 ◽  
Vol 1993 (1) ◽  
pp. 141-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irving A. Mendelssohn ◽  
Mark W. Hester ◽  
John M. Hill
Keyword(s):  
Crude Oil ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Ground Truth ◽  
Complete Recovery ◽  
Coastal Marshes ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Ground Truth Data ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Loss Rates

ABSTRACT The impact of oil spills on coastal environments and the ability of these systems to exhibit long-term recovery has received increased attention in recent years. Although oil spills can have significant short-term impacts on coastal marshes, the long-term effects and eventual recovery are not well documented. Estuarine marshes have sometimes been reported to exhibit slow recovery after oil spills, whereas in other instances they appear to have great resiliency, with complete recovery after one or two years. To document and understand this phenomenon better, we have investigated the long-term recovery of a south Louisiana estuarine marsh exposed to an accidental spill of crude oil. Although a pipeline rupture releasing Louisiana crude oil caused the near complete mortality of a brackish marsh dominated by Spartina patens and S. alterniflora, this marsh completely recovered four years after the spill with no differences in plant species cover between oiled and reference marshes. Remotely sensed imagery of the study site confirmed the relatively rapid recovery demonstrated by the ground truth data. Louisiana's coastal marshes are naturally experiencing rapid rates of deterioration. Land loss rates, determined from aerial imagery, at the spill site and adjacent reference areas before and after the spill demonstrated that the long-term loss rates were not affected by the spill event.

USING OIL SPILL DISPERSANTS ON THE SEA

1989 ◽  
Vol 1989 (1) ◽  
pp. 343-353 ◽  
Author(s):  
James N. Butler
Keyword(s):  
Water Column ◽  
Oil Spills ◽  
Field Tests ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Oil Slick ◽  
Dispersed Oil ◽  
Oil Spill Dispersants ◽  
The Times ◽  
Aerial Sprays

ABSTRACT Primary consideration in this critical review was given to treating oil spills at sea with the intent of reducing the environmental impact of that oil if it should reach the shore. The general conclusions reached were:In carefully planned and monitored laboratory and sea tests, oil has been effectively dispersed; but at many field tests and at accidental spills, reported effectiveness has been low—perhaps because of poor targeting and distribution of aerial sprays, because the oils were too viscous to be dispersable, or the observations of effectiveness were inconclusive.The acute lethal toxicities of dispersant formulations currently in use are usually lower than those of the more volatile and soluble fractions of crude oils and their refined products; hence the toxicity of dispersed oil is due primarily to the oil and not to the dispersant.Sublethal effects of dispersed oil observed in the laboratory occur in most cases at concentrations comparable to or higher than those expected in the water column during treatment of an oil slick at sea (1 to 10 ppm) but seldom at concentrations less than are found several hours after treatment (less than 1 ppm). Since the times of exposure in the laboratory are much longer than predicted exposures during slick dispersal at sea (one to three hours), the effects would be correspondingly less.In open waters, organisms on the surface will be less affected by dispersed oil than by an oil slick, but organisms in the upper water column will experience greater exposure to oil components if the oil is dispersed. In shallow habitats with poor water circulation, benthic organisms will be more immediately affected by dispersed than untreated oil. Long-term effects of dispersed oil on some habitats, such as mangroves, are less, and the habitat recovers faster if the oil is dispersed before it reaches that area.Because the principal benefit of dispersant use is to prevent oil stranding on sensitive shorelines, and because dispersability of oil decreases rapidly with weathering, prompt response is essential.

Ovarian Dysfunction in Fetally Irradiated Beagles

1977 ◽  
Vol 35 ◽  
pp. 658-659
Author(s):  
T. M. Seed ◽  
M. H. Sanderson ◽  
D. L. Gutzeit ◽  
T. E. Fritz ◽  
D. V. Tolle ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Gamma Rays ◽  
Low Dose ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Ovarian Dysfunction ◽  
Dose Rates ◽  
Highly Sensitive ◽  
Microscopic Evaluation ◽  
Ovarian Pathology ◽  
Normal Offspring

The developing mammalian fetus is thought to be highly sensitive to ionizing radiation. However, dose, dose-rate relationships are not well established, especially the long term effects of protracted, low-dose exposure. A previous report (1) has indicated that bred beagle bitches exposed to daily doses of 5 to 35 R 60Co gamma rays throughout gestation can produce viable, seemingly normal offspring. Puppies irradiated in utero are distinguishable from controls only by their smaller size, dental abnormalities, and, in adulthood, by their inability to bear young.We report here our preliminary microscopic evaluation of ovarian pathology in young pups continuously irradiated throughout gestation at daily (22 h/day) dose rates of either 0.4, 1.0, 2.5, or 5.0 R/day of gamma rays from an attenuated 60Co source. Pups from non-irradiated bitches served as controls. Experimental animals were evaluated clinically and hematologically (control + 5.0 R/day pups) at regular intervals.

Ultrastructural investigations of MDL 19,660-induced effects on the canine platelet and megakaryocyte

1990 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. 374-375
Author(s):  
D.E. Loudy ◽  
J. Sprinkle-Cavallo ◽  
J.T. Yarrington ◽  
F.Y. Thompson ◽  
J.P. Gibson
Keyword(s):  
Antidepressant Drug ◽  
Beagle Dogs ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Platelet Counts ◽  
Toxicological Studies ◽  
Induced Aggregation ◽  
Internal Architecture

Previous short term toxicological studies of one to two weeks duration have demonstrated that MDL 19,660 (5-(4-chlorophenyl)-2,4-dihydro-2,4-dimethyl-3Hl, 2,4-triazole-3-thione), an antidepressant drug, causes a dose-related thrombocytopenia in dogs. Platelet counts started to decline after two days of dosing with 30 mg/kg/day and continued to decrease to their lowest levels by 5-7 days. The loss in platelets was primarily of the small discoid subpopulation. In vitro studies have also indicated that MDL 19,660: does not spontaneously aggregate canine platelets and has moderate antiaggregating properties by inhibiting ADP-induced aggregation. The objectives of the present investigation of MDL 19,660 were to evaluate ultrastructurally long term effects on platelet internal architecture and changes in subpopulations of platelets and megakaryocytes.Nine male and nine female beagle dogs were divided equally into three groups and were administered orally 0, 15, or 30 mg/kg/day of MDL 19,660 for three months. Compared to a control platelet range of 353,000- 452,000/μl, a doserelated thrombocytopenia reached a maximum severity of an average of 135,000/μl for the 15 mg/kg/day dogs after two weeks and 81,000/μl for the 30 mg/kg/day dogs after one week.

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