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Experimental field study of the effects of crude oil, drill cuttings and natural biodeposits on microphyto- and macrozoobenthic communities in a Mediterranean area

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Abstract

Effects of an experimental pollution by neogenous and fossil organic matter on microphyto- and macrozoobenthic communities were studied in situ over a 1 yr period (July 1989 to May 1990) in a shallow microtidal bay (Gulf of Fos, south coast of France). Three experimental enclosures of 1 m2 non-defaunated sediments were covered with 1 cm of polluted defaunated sediments. The sediment in one enclosure contained natural biodeposits with a high organic matter content (BD), that in a second enclosure contained Arabian light crude oil (BAL), and the sediment in the third enclosure contained diesel oil-based cuttings (CUT). Pollution by contaminants did not prevent microphytobenthos from colouizing sediments. Population changes over time were quite similar in all enclosures, except in CUT, where a four times higher chlorophyll a content appeared to be related to a decreased number of grazers and consequently lower grazing rates of animals. Toxicity to the fauna was immediate in the case of BAL and occurred within 3 mo at CUT. Opportunistic species settled in all contaminated sediments; this occurred quite rapidly in BD and BAL which recovered within 3 mo to levels comparable with control sediments. In CUT, natural populations had not recovered after 1 yr, whereas a quasi-monospecific population of Capitella capitata was still present. During the first 3 mo, the oxygen demand of the sediment was higher in oil-contaminated sediments than in controls. On the whole, the changes in fluxes and organism assemblages in our weakly tidal area appear to be consistent with other findings in macrotidal seas.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre d'Océanologie de Marseille, Université d'Aix-Marseille II-URA, CNRS 41, Station Marine d'Endoume, F-13007, Marseille, France

    M. R. Plante-Cuny, C. Salen-Picard, C. Grenz, R. Plante, E. Alliot & C. Barranguet

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  1. M. R. Plante-Cuny
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  2. C. Salen-Picard
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  3. C. Grenz
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  4. R. Plante
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  5. E. Alliot
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  6. C. Barranguet
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Communicated by J. M. Pérès, Marseille

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Plante-Cuny, M.R., Salen-Picard, C., Grenz, C. et al. Experimental field study of the effects of crude oil, drill cuttings and natural biodeposits on microphyto- and macrozoobenthic communities in a Mediterranean area. Marine Biology 117, 355–366 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00345681

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