ARCTIC Toxicity of Prudhoe Bay Crude Oil to Alaskan Arctic Zooplankton
ABSTRACT. Bioassay experiments were conducted to determine the relative susceptibilities of three arctic zooplankton species to oil pollution, and the results were compared with the effects of an actual oil spill on a pond near Barrow. In both the bioassays and the pond, the addition of Prudhoe Bay...
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| Language: | English |
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| Online Access: | http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.502.9243 http://pubs.aina.ucalgary.ca/arctic/Arctic31-3-219.pdf |
| Summary: | ABSTRACT. Bioassay experiments were conducted to determine the relative susceptibilities of three arctic zooplankton species to oil pollution, and the results were compared with the effects of an actual oil spill on a pond near Barrow. In both the bioassays and the pond, the addition of Prudhoe Bay crude oil was toxic to fairy shrimp (Branchionecta paladosa O. F. Müller), which seemed most sensitive, Daphnia middendofiana Fischer, which was next most susceptible and Heterocope septentrionalis Juday and Muttkowski, which appeared somewhat resistant to the effects of oil. Cyclopoid copepods were the only common zooplankters able to survive the pond oil spill, and these were still present two and one half weeks after the spill. The rapid deaths of the other species, especially the branchiopods, suggest that zooplankton may be the most susceptible of all arctic freshwater organisms to oil pollution. RkSUMk. On a réalisé des expériences analytiques biologiques pour déterminer les susceptibilité $ relatives de trois espèces de zooplancton arctique, à la pollution pétrolière et on a comparé les résultats avec les effets d’un écoulement actuel de pétrole sur un étang près de Barrow. Dans les deux cas, l’addition du brut de Prudhoe Bay était toxique à la petite crevette (Branchionecta paladosa), qui semblait la plus sensible devant Daphnia Middendofiana et Heterocope septentrionalis qui apparaissaient ’ quelque peu résistantes aux effets du pétrole. Seuls, les copepodes cyclopoides, dans le zooplancton ordinaire, survivaient à l’écoulement de pétrole dans I’étang, deux semaines et demi après I’écoulement. La mort rapide des autres expèces, en particulier les branchiopodes, suggère que le zooplancton peut être le plus susceptible de tous les organismes arctiques d’eau douce, à la pollution du pétrole. Traduit par Alain de Vendigies, Aquitaine Co. of Canada Ltd. |
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