[Coral-List] Oil and corals

fautin at ku.edu fautin at ku.edu
Mon May 3 09:04:58 EDT 2010


Dear Colleagues,

The effects of concern are not just the acute ones.  I recall that studies 
following both the Santa Barbara and Exxon Valdez spills found impaired 
reproduction -- lowered fecundity, fertilization rates, survival rates, 
etc.  As I recall, these were particularly acute in invertebrates, many 
of which are sessile, and therefore could not move away from the oil.


Daphne G. Fautin
Professor, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Curator, Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Research Center
Haworth Hall
University of Kansas
1200 Sunnyside Avenue
Lawrence, Kansas 66045-7534  USA

telephone 1-785-864-3062
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evo user name fautin
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       direct to database of hexacorals, including sea anemones
               newest version released 1 December 2009
         ***http://hercules.kgs.ku.edu/Hexacoral/Anemone2***


On Sun, 2 May 2010, James Cervino PhD. wrote:

> Dear Walter, Thank you for your refreshing posting. I also did experiments with
> Montastraea exposed to mild doses of crude oil; the corals began to expel their
> algae within 24hrs, similar to the expulsion rates with mild doses of HCN.. The
> difference between the HCN exposure and crude oil exposure was; cell death was
> quicker with cyanide, and exposure to oil was slower. One quick note though;
> mucus production and buildup of Sulfide fouling was only associated with crude
> oil exposure.
>
> I remember a few folks denying that HCN killed the corals. However, with Jones &
> Oves work on the the inhibition of Photosynthesis using the PAM and the work Dr
> Goreau, Hays and I did, we were able to shut down the deniers claims very
> quickly.
>
> I guess we are in a similar situation in this current time; in that some will
> now minimize the effects of crude oil spills and its toxicity effects on
> corals! Those "good ole folks" that are employed by big oil, will stop at
> nothing to get your eyes to not believe what they are seeing.
>
> Good Day!
>
> *************************************
> Dr. James M. Cervino
> Visiting Scientist
> Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute
> Contact Information:
> NYC Address: 9-22 119st
> College Point New York, 11356
> Cell: 917-620*5287
> ************************************
>
>
> Quoting Walter Goldberg <goldberg at fiu.edu>:
>
> * Listers, for those of you who want to get a better background on the
> * relationship between corals and oil spills than might be revealed by one
> * person's personal experience and opinions, please see NOAA's manual on the
> * subject:
> * http://response.restoration.noaa.gov
> * Scroll down to their 10 MB pdf Oil Spills and Coral Reefs, which in part
> * states:
> * The old notion that coral reefs do not suffer acute toxicity effects from oil
> * floating over them
> * is probably incorrect. Certainly, direct coating increases the severity of
> * impact, but oil concentrations
> * attainable during a spill may also kill some species.
> * Cheers,
> * Walter M. Goldberg, Ph.D.
> * Professor of Biological Sciences
> * Florida International University
> * University Park Campus
> * Miami, FL 33199
> * email goldberg at fiu.edu
> *
> * Message: 2
> * Date: Fri, 30 Apr 2010 13:03:49 -0400
> * From: Eugene Shinn <eshinn at marine.usf.edu>
> * Subject: [Coral-List] Disaster in the Gulf and Coral Reefs
> * To: coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
> * Message-ID: <a06230949c800bdc7f49f@[131.247.137.127]>
> * Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed"
> *
> *      With the developing oil disaster in the Gulf, I thought a few
> * comments regarding the effects of crude oil on coral reefs might be
> * healthful. Some of you know my background in the industry and my work
> * with API committees before 1974. In 1972, I ...........+ 6 paragraphs not
> * reproduced here.
> *
> *
> *
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> *
> *
>
>
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