The Black Plague: Forecasted Ecological Effects of the

Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill on the Surrounding Coastal and

Marine Environment

Jennifer LawallBIOL 607

Professor Sklarew

gokill.com

GOALThe goal of this project is to examine the short

and long-term ecological effects of the

Deepwater Horizon Spill on the surrounding

ecosystems by analyzing other oil spills in the past. Petroleum

toxicity and its effect on oxygen availability is discussed along with the structure of the intertidal zone and

highlights of the marine food chain.

humboldtherald.wordpress.com

mirror.co.uk

Santa Barbara Oil Spill

• Dolphins, whales, and fish were able to communicate with each other to avoid unfriendly waters (Blowout)

•However….this oil spill is of more extreme magnitude and as these animals try to escape their realized niche, they will be confronted with toxic waters (especially near the point of emission since the Gulf is blocked off by land

•One sperm whale, 3 spinner whales, and 47 bottlenose dolphins have been discovered so far in the spill, however, deaths were also recorded for the Santa Barbara spill and it was discovered that these deaths followed the normal death rate for the animals d=d0 +cN (Blowout)

•Whales and dolphins will be affected by the increasing toxicity of the oil at the surface and by their food source which serves as an intermediate host for the toxins

•Sea lions and seals are more resilient during oil spills (Blowout)

What we can learn from this spill….

Torrey Canyon Oil Spill

What we can learn….

• Overall, 10,000 birds were kill in this spill that was 1/9 the magnitude of the Deepwater Spill

•Decrease in top-down control allowed extreme proliferation by the marine plants (Blowout)

•Bottom sediments created a realm of toxicity that extended outwards

•Free swimming larvae who settled on the bottom floor were dying 1 ½ years after the spill

•It was noted that shellfish contaminated with hydrocarbons remained contaminated for life, despite cleaner water (Blowout)

•Certain endemic species became endangered

food.change.org

ok4me2.net

Ixtoc I Spill

What can research by Wes Tunnell on Ixtoc I tell us about what’s in store…

• Gulf resident Jose Chay noted the permanent kill of clams and oysters as well as a minimum of five years for the fin fish to recover (ixtoc1expedition.blogspot.com)

•Carlos E. Brown claimed it took about 8-10 years for the fish to recover enough that he could use them in his restaurant

•Due to the fact that the Deepwater spill is currently two times the magnitude of the Ixtoc I Spill, it could take up to twenty years for the fisheries to return to normal!

Tar mat from ground of red mangrove (July 2010)

http://ixtoc1expedition.blogspot.com/

Crude Oil and the Birds

Why are birds usually the most affected?

Four outcomes for a bird:1)Drown because he loses natural buoyancy2)Die from exposure to chill sea water3)Use up body’s stored reserves on land and starve4)Die after accidental ingestion of toxic oil

Brown pelicans, a group commonly affected, were just removed off the endangered species list last year

Michael Seymour, a Louisiana ornithologist, has highlighted the problems associated with catching the birds without disturbing the colony

Birds panic then eggs and chicks subject to…Temperature extremesCompetitive neighboring birds

seeking to decrease interspecific competition(Stain on the Heart)

Brown pelican struggling to fly

veteranstoday.com

BTEX

•Monoaromatic hydrocarbons of greatest concern are benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and meta-, para-, and ortho-xylenes (termed BTEX)

•Affinity for partitioning into lipids in organisms and sorption into organic sediment (Bioaccumulation in Marine Organisms)

Concentration Range of Monocyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in 31 Gas Samples from Florida and Physical/chemical properties of these HydrocarbonsChemical Concentratio

n RangeSeawater Solubility (mg/L)

Benzene 0.7-3.8 1,398

Toluene 4.5-21 389

Ethylbenzene 0.7-2.8 114

O-Xylene 1.1-3.7 133

M-, p-Xylene 3.7-14.5 111

• BTEX concentrations under oil slicks in Ixtoc I were 100 µg/L compared to the normal amount of 0.1 µg/L

•Hydrocarbons partition into the seawater

BTEX Effects

• An observation of herring revealed that BTEX was stored in their ovaries from where it was passed to offspring during spawning (Bioaccumulation in Marine Organisms)

•Produces nonspecific narcosis and increased permeability of cell membranes, mainly in the gills

•Attributed to absorption of BTEX in lipid-rich molecules causing swelling and eventual disruption

•Noted to cause developmental effects in sea urchins and may be an indicator of future mutations in the offspring of surviving organisms in the Gulf

Marine Degration and Decreased O2

•Much of the petroleum is degraded by over 100 different marine species that metabolize it such as Pseudomonas and Achromobacter (Microbial Degradation of Petroleum Hydrocarbons: an Environmental Perspective)

•These species turn the unusable carbon into a usable carbon source for other organisms and could be a key to decreasing the spread in the Gulf

•Oxygen levels decrease as petroleum levels increase

•“Biological oxygen demand” or the oxygen needed to oxidize all the organic material in the water increases as the petroleum-metabolizing species reproduce

Pseudomonasblog.poolcenter.com

Achrombacterbuddycom.com

The Intertidal Zone•Life extremely diverse, especially in the

limnetic and littoral zones

•Organisms and grasses compete and thus decrease their fundamental niche

•When one species is wiped out, others extend their realized niche to closely

match that of their fundamental niche

•Petroleum emissions have potential for this effect, having only the most highly

resistant organisms persist (species richness decreases)

•Epifuana and infauna are the most vulnerable to increases in water toxicity

(EOE)

•Certain organisms are evolving to live more on land

•Pill bugs living in rocks on shore•Organisms living below ground in

sand

Zonation of the coastnrscience.org

The Intertidal Zone

In the intertidal zone of Santa Barbara after the oil spill…•Dead mussels, decomposing surf grasses, white (instead of red) algae, decimated barnacle populations, and overly oiled kelp beds

•Kelp beds were unaffected but stored the oil and were cut to prevent recontamination of beaches (Blowout)

•Birds in the intertidal zone showed a high mortality rate

•Scallops, mussels, sea urchins, and starfish also showed a declining rate

•Barnacles were the most affected with over 90% decrease in population size and declining reproductive rates

Aquatic Food Chain

•In ocean, dominant primary producers are phytoplankton

•Absorb nutrients from the water and thus will absorb hydrocarbons from the water•Restricted to the upper surface where light penetration is the highest-and petroleum concentration.

•Petroleum blocks passage of sunlight for these autotrophs

•Phytoplankton serve as primary producer of grazer food chain•Certain heterotrophic microbes can serve as petroleum-digesting microbes in the absence of their normal food source

•Become detrital food chain equivalent of the primary producing phytoplankton and turn inaccessible hydrocarbons into newly accessible compounds

Phytoplanktonraptureofthedeep.org

Importance of Heterotrophic Microbes

•Heterotrophic microbes and phytoplankton are part of microbial loop and add trophic levels to plankton food chain (EOE)

•Heterotrophic detritivore population explodes as they become primary source of carbon in place of phytoplankton•Higher up the bottom up control chain are nekton who feed on these lower trophic levels•Success of this higher order depends on the lower orders to destruction of phytoplankton can have devastating effects on future of nekton, as well as ourselves

•However…•Microbe population explosion could sustain population as certain trophic rungs die out while others adapt to increasing microbe expansion•Thus, increasing the microbe population could help solve the oil spill (though many eco-friendly groups will disagree entirely with me on this point)

Example of various forms of

nektontarleton.edu

Conclusion•As BTEX decimates biotic components of the coastal and open water ecosystems in the Gulf surrounding the spill and changes abiotic components, the importance of certain actions become important like …

•Increased introduction of petroleum-digesting and petroleum-resilient organisms

•However human conservation efforts could be the best way to reduce the spread of the oil even further

•Humans are the only ones who can…•Rescue/wash oiled animals•Conserve the lands surrounding the Gulf•Save hair, feathers, fur, and d fleece to create booms that help stop the spread of the oil (MatterofTrust.org)

This could be you!!

You can make a difference!

Stop the Spread of the Black Plague!

And, for a small bit of humor, a theoretical perspective on how BP would handle a coffee

spill

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AAa0gd7ClM

Matteroftrust.org

ReferencesAtlas, Ronald M. “Microbial Degradation of Petroleum Hydrocarbons: an Environmental Perspective.” Microbiological Reviews 45 (1981): 180-209.

Brown, DeNeen. "A Stain on The Heart." Washington Post [Washington D.C.] 6 July 2010, sec. Style: C-C7. Print.

"Everyone is Helping to Boom the Gulf!". Matter of Trust. 8/1/2010 http://www.matteroftrust.org/

"Gulf Oil Spill's Animal Victims". Washington Post. 8/1/2010 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/gallery/2010/05/21/GA2010052104134.html.

 Neff, Jerry M.. Bioaccumulation in Marine Organisms. Oxford: Elsevier Science Ltd., 2002.

Tunnell, Wes. "Ixtoc I Expedition: 30 Years Later". HR Institute. 8/1/2010<http://ixtoc1expedition.blogspot.com/>.

Smith, Thomas M., and Smith Robert Leo. Elements of Ecology. San Francisco: Pearson Education, Inc., 2009

 Steinhart, Carol E., and Steinhart John S.. Blowout. Belmont: Wadsworth Publishing Inc.,

1972.