Immediate effects of the 2019 oil spill on the macrobenthic fauna associated with macroalgae on the tropical coast of Brazil

The most extensive oil spill registered in tropical oceans (Brazil): the balance sheet of a disaster

“…No time-scale boundaries were imposed. To identify articles missed during the first step of selection, we also consulted the references cited in each relevant article and review (Goncalves et al 2020;Lourenço et al 2020;Magris and Giarrizzo 2020;Soares et al 2020a, b;Estevo et al 2021;Campelo et al 2021;Craveiro et al 2021;Soares et al 2021;Zacharias et al 2021a, b). All papers with an English title and abstract were manually screened for content, and the remaining papers were downloaded and examined individually.…”

“…In addition to this threatened fauna, recent research has provided information on the impact of spills on plankton food webs and benthic communities (Campelo et al 2021;Cerqueira 2021;Craveiro et al 2021;Gusmão et al 2021;Lira et al 2021). During the massive oil spill on the Pernambuco coast (Table 1), the highest percentage of affected zooplankton was recorded in the estuarine plume, followed by the tropical bay and coral reef areas.…”

“…Acute impacts were found on echinoderms (Cerqueira 2021), polychaetes (e.g., Branchiosyllis), and sponges (Craveiro et al 2021;Lira et al 2021) with evidence of ingestion of oil stains and droplets. Craveiro et al (2021) evaluated the effects of the oil spill on algae-associated (Jania capillacea and Penicillus capitatus) communities in shallow-water reefs on the Pernambuco coast.…”

“…Acute impacts were found on echinoderms (Cerqueira 2021), polychaetes (e.g., Branchiosyllis), and sponges (Craveiro et al 2021;Lira et al 2021) with evidence of ingestion of oil stains and droplets. Craveiro et al (2021) evaluated the effects of the oil spill on algae-associated (Jania capillacea and Penicillus capitatus) communities in shallow-water reefs on the Pernambuco coast. Their results detected a simplification of communities (reduction of species richness and abundance) after oil arrival, while opportunistic and stress-tolerant organisms flourished; for example, the polychaete Branchiomma luctuosum and the isopod Janaira gracilis increased tenfold after the disaster.…”

On the Impact of Brazil's Largest Recent Oil Spill on Regional Oceans

“…Besides that, the adverse impacts of the oil spill disaster upon Brazil's environment, economy and society were previously described mostly in Portuguese [4,7,[15][16][17] which unfortunately lacks international outreach and visibility. Fewer articles, with more impact [2,4,13,[18][19][20][21][22] have brought to attention information on the oil spill along Brazil's northeast and southeast seaboard, trying to find answers and fill data gaps on the geochemistry and identification of the source of the oily material. Discussion about environmental monitoring and response measures that must be implemented to minimize the ecological, economic, and social effects of the spill; which is particularly relevant in areas with high tropical biodiversity while experiencing high social inequality, which is presently the case of this northeastern accident in according to [3] .…”