Responses of benthic meiofauna to long-term, low-level additions of No. 2 fuel oil

Abstract

Three experiments were conducted to investigate the responses of benthic rneiofauna to long-term, low-level additions of No. 2 fuel oil in large (13 m3), outdoor tanks (mesocosms) containing sediment and sea water from Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, USA. In the first experiment, an average water column oil concentration of 190 ppb was maintained for 168 d followed by a 64 d period of no oil additions. During the second experiment, an average oil concentration of 90 ppb was maintained for 122 d. A 386 d period of no oil additions (Experiment 111) followed Experiment 11. The abundances of metazoan meiofauna decreased during oil addition periods in Experiments I and I1 with the oil more extensively affecting the meiofauna in the first experiment. In both experiments, ostracods and harpacticoid copepods were the most sensitive metazoan groups. In contrast, abundances of protozoan meiofauna (foraminiferans and ciliates) were higher in the oiled mesocosms. Abundances of most meiofaunal groups returned to levels similar to the controls within 2 to 7 mo following the termination of oil additions. However, the abundances of kinorhynchs and halacarids remained depressed for more than 1 yr after the last oil addition, presumably due to residual oil in the sediments.

Influence of pollution along a natural gradient and in a mesocosm experiment on biomass-size spectra of benthic communities

“…Grassle et al 1981, Elmgren & Frithsen 1982, Frithsen et al 1985, there is no similar basis for comparison of the effects of pollutants on biomass-size spectra. However, the present results indicate that patterns of correlations of species abundances, abundances of higher taxa, and biomass-size spectra with environmental variables may all be similar.…”

Benthic foraminiferal response to environmental change in the Skagerrak, northeastern North Sea

“…In laboratory experiments where macrobenthos abundances were depressed due to the effects of pollutants, the standing stock of benthic Foraminifera increased (ELMGREN & al. 1980;FRITHSEN & al. 1985).…”

Effects of two lubricant oils on marine nematode assemblages in a laboratory microcosm experiment

“…The effects of crude and refined petroleum hydrocarbons on benthic fauna have been extensively studied following real oil spills (Krebs and Burns, 1977;Boucher et al, 1980;Bodin, 1988;McGuinness, 1990;Teal et al, 1992;Agard et al, 1993;Moore and Stevenson, 1997;Smith and Simpson, 1998;Jewett et al, 1999;Michel and Hayes, 1999), in field experiments (Alongi et al, 1983;Decker and Fleeger, 1984;PlanteCuny et al, 1993;Christie and Berge, 1995;Feder and Blanchard, 1998), experimental mesocosms (Farke et al, 1985;Frithsen et al, 1985) and laboratory microcosms (Grassle et al, 1981;Carman et al, 2000;Mahmoudi et al, 2005), but the influence of lubricant oils on natural communities is poorly understood. The few studies concerning engine lubricants and benthic organisms (Powell et al, 2005;Thompson et al, 2007) have been conducted using Antarctic assemblages, and there are no studies reporting the impacts to Mediterranean species or under temperate environmental conditions.…”