Effect of Prudhoe crude oil on carbon assimilation by planktonic algae in an arctic pond

• Main Authors: Miller, M.C., Hater, G.R., Vestal, J.R.
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: 02 PETROLEUM; 63 RADIATION; THERMAL; AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.; 54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES; ALGAE; METABOLISM; OIL SPILLS; BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS; ARCTIC REGIONS; BIOMASS; EXPERIMENTAL DATA; GRAPHS; PHYTOPLANKTON; PONDS; PRUDHOE BAY; AQUATIC ORGANISMS; ARCTIC OCEAN; BEAUFORT SEA; DATA; DATA FORMS; ENERGY SOURCES; INFORMATION; NUMERICAL DATA; PLANKTON; PLANTS; POLAR REGIONS; RENEWABLE ENERGY SOURCES; SEAS; SURFACE WATERS; Arctic; Arctic Ocean; Two Ponds; Beaufort Sea; Phytoplankton; Prudhoe Bay
• Online Access: http://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/6155663; https://www.osti.gov/biblio/6155663; https://doi.org/10.2172/6155663

During the summer of 1975, 240ml/m of Prudhoe crude oil was spilled on an experimental coastal pond similar to those around Prudhoe Bay. Deviaton of algal production, algal biomass and species composition was compared to an adjacent control pond. Planktonic primary productivity was initially inhibited but recovered. Algal density did not deviate in the two ponds; however, the biomass and the species composition was changed, by the elimination of the Cryptophyte Rhodomonas minuta. The time course of the effects was related to the weathering and degradation of the oil. On these ponds the effects on the phytoplankton were not significantly different than those observed in 1970 after a controlled spill at 45 times the 1975 dose rate.