Distribution of hydrocarbons in a salt marsh ecosystem after an oil spill and physiological changes in marsh animals from the polluted environment
Distribution of hydrocarbons in a salt marsh ecosystem after an oil spill and physiological changes in marsh animals from the polluted environment
Date
1975-06
Authors
Burns, Kathryn A.
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Date Created
Location
Buzzards Bay, MA
West Falmouth, MA
West Falmouth, MA
DOI
10.1575/1912/1541
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Keywords
Salt marsh ecology
Oil pollution of rivers, harbors
Pollution physiological effect
Oil pollution of rivers, harbors
Pollution physiological effect
Abstract
The studies described in this thesis were designed to answer
several problems relating to the recovery of a salt marsh heavily
polluted by an accidental spill of Number 2 fuel oil. Field and
laboratory studies were conducted for 5 years comparing the oiled
Wild Harbor Marsh with the unoiled Sippewissett Marsh, both on
Buzzards Bay in Massachusetts. The data contributes information
1) on the incorporation of oil into the sediments and organisms
at the oiled marsh, 2) on the residence times of certain components
of the oil in the marsh ecosystem, 3) on changes in chemical
composition of the oil with time due to physical and chemical
weathering processes and biochemical degradation of hydrocarbons,
4) on the effects of oiled sediments on the population distribution,
behavior, and survival of the intertidal fiddler crab,
Uca pugnax, 5) on the relatively small ability of Uca to
metabolize hydrocarbons, 6) on the presence of an inducible in
vitro microsomal mixed function oxidase (MFO) enzyme system in
the marsh minnow, Fundulus heteroclitus, 7) on the presence of
high MFO rates in field populations of Fundulus exosed to hydrocarbon
pollution, and 8) for the synthesis into a discussion of
some of the physiological reasons for the relative sensitivity
of marsh animals to oil pollution and their relative ability to
adapt to an oil polluted environment.
Description
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
June, 1975
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Citation
Burns, K. A. (1975). Distribution of hydrocarbons in a salt marsh ecosystem after an oil spill and physiological changes in marsh animals from the polluted environment [Doctoral thesis, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution]. Woods Hole Open Access Server. https://doi.org/10.1575/1912/1541