Ecological Effects of a Major Oil Spill on Panamanian Coastal Marine Communities

Abstract

In 1986 more than 8 million liters of crude oil spilled into a complex region of mangroves, seagrasses, and coral reefs just east of the Caribbean entrance to the Panama Canal. This was the largest recorded spill into coastal habitats in the tropical Americas. Many population of plants and animals in both oiled and unoiled sites had been studied previously, thereby providing an unprecedented measure of ecological variation before the spill. Documenation of the spread of oil and its biological begun immediately. Intertidal mangroves, algae, and associated invertebrates were covered by oil and died soon after. More surprisingly, there was also extensive mortality of shallow subtidal reef corals and infauna of seagrass beds. After 1.5 years only some organisms in areas exposed to the open sea have recovered.

Tropical dead zones and mass mortalities on coral reefs

“…Although hypoxia and the associated phenomenon of "dead zones" have gained increasing attention of late (7,8), the threat posed by hypoxia to coral reefs is rarely mentioned. For example, hypoxia is not discussed in several of the most influential reviews of threats to coral (4,9,10) and was mentioned in only 0.2% of the abstracts from the 2016 International Coral Reef Symposium (Table S1). Here we describe a massive coral-mortality event caused by hypoxia and document how such events may be underreported globally because of the lack of scientific capacity in regions where coral reefs are found.…”

Echinoderm Diversity in Panama: 144 Years of Research Across the Isthmus

“…At the seaward edge, numbers of the most abundant sea urchin E. lucunter was reduced by 80 % within a few days of the spill, and the reef flat was littered with its skeletons (Jackson et al 1989). However, further inshore no such mortality of E. lucunter was reported (Jackson et al 1989).…”

“…At the seaward edge, numbers of the most abundant sea urchin E. lucunter was reduced by 80 % within a few days of the spill, and the reef flat was littered with its skeletons (Jackson et al 1989). However, further inshore no such mortality of E. lucunter was reported (Jackson et al 1989). During 2008 found large numbers of dead and dying sand dollars of the genera Encope and Mellita washed up on beaches from Punta Abreojos, Baja California Sur, Mexico, to Santa Elena Bay, La Libertad in Ecuador in the eastern Pacific and off Costa Rica and Belize in the Caribbean.…”

“…On 27 April 1986 more than 8 million liters of crude oil spilled into a complex region of mangroves, seagrassses, and coral reefs east of the Caribbean entrance to the Panama Canal (Jackson et al 1989). At the seaward edge, numbers of the most abundant sea urchin E. lucunter was reduced by 80 % within a few days of the spill, and the reef flat was littered with its skeletons (Jackson et al 1989).…”

A relocatable ocean model in support of environmental emergencies

“…Oil slicks caused by oil tanker/ships accidents compose a major source of hydrocarbon pollution for the marine and coastal environment (including seagrass beds, mangroves, algal flats, and coral reefs) and can jeopardize the functional integrity of the marine ecosystem (seabirds populations, fish communities, and marine mammals), as reported in Jackson et al (1989), Piatt and Anderson (1996), Peterson et al (2003). Since oil spill evolution depends on the winds, waves, sea temperature, and current conditions, oil spill management strategies need to be developed together with the improvement of meteorological, ocean, and wave forecasting models.…”