EFEITOS DO PETRÓLEO SOBRE A ASSOCIAÇÃO DE MACROINVERTEBRADOS BENTÔNICOS DE PRAIAS ARENOSAS DO EXTREMO SUL DO BRASIL.
The benthic marine organisms in the sand beach intertidal zone have a great ecological complexity, being a major trophic link among the phytoplankton, organic detritus and the higher trophic levels. Any anthropogenic disturbance that affects these organisms, such as an oil spill can cause changes in all trophic levels of coastal communities. Due to their sedentary nature and the long life cycle, the marine benthic invertebrates are considered good instruments for assessing environmental impacts and for coastal zone monitoring. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate the oil effects on marine macrobenthic invertebrates by means of an oil spill simulation in two coastal sandy beaches on the south of the Rio Grande do Sul state. Beyond field simulations, laboratorial experiments with aquariums were also developed to evaluate the bethic macrofauna responses under oil influence, being choosed those more representatives on the field experiments, on this case the suspensivore bivalve, Mesodesma mactroides; the deposit feeder polychaeta Euzonus furciferus; and the necrophago isopod Excirolana armata. The field experiment results did not show statistically significant oil effects on the benthic macrofauna. However, there is an evidence of higher mortality of the pelecypod Mesodesma macroides on the oil treatments, being confirmed by the laboratory experiment, on which the individuals were all dead on the aquariums with oil within 7 days. The other two species analyzed in laboratory (Euzonus furciferus e Excirolana armata) did not show negative response regarding to the oil. It is suggested that oil spill effects on the evaluated species, seems to be related to their guilds. Is important to observe that a few generalizations are valid when dealing with an oil spill ecological effects. The macrobenthic community recovery after a spill depends not only 10 on the oil persistence, but also on the affected species recruitment patterns, their life history, their tolerance to the sediment toxic compounds and the local environmental conditions.
Advisor:Carlos Emílio Bemvenuti; José Guilherme Bersano Filho; Taciana Kramer de Oliveira Pinto
School:Fundação Universidade Federal do Rio Grande
Source Type:Master's Thesis
Date of Publication:06/10/2005