The Biological Effects of Oil Pollution in a River1

Abstract

Physical, chemical, and biological conditions in the water and sediments of Muddy River, Massachusetts, were observed from autumn 1961 through summer 1963 to determine the effects of oil pollution on biological activity. Samples from above, in, and below the polluted area were collected and analyzed. The heavy bunker oil pollutant formed a thin partial film on the surface of the water that partially excluded the oxygen from the water but not sufficiently to destroy developing plankton. Low biochemical oxygen demand correlated with consistently high concentrations of oil in the sludge in the polluted region indicating slow decomposition of the oil by microorganisms. The oil was markedly toxic to the plankton and to the macrofauna of the sediments. The following plankters tolerated the pollution even during periods of highest oil concentration: Lyngbya, Oscillatoria, Ankistrodesmus, Chlamydomonas, Closterium, Gonium, Scenedesmus, Asterionella, Cyclotella, Fragilaria, Meridion, Navicula, Tabellaria, Euglena, Trachelomonas, Vorticella, Asplanchna, Keratella, Polyarthra, Cyclops, and Nemata types. In the sediments, Gammarus, Agrion nymphs, and Dugesia were unable to tolerate conditions in the region of oil pollution while Tubifex, Tendipes larvae, Nemata, and Hirudinca types were tolerant and remained.

Effects of a crude oil spill on water quality and macrobenthos of a southeast Texas stream

“…McCauley (1966) reported the effects of oil pollution on physicochemical conditions, plankton and macrobenthos of Muddy River, Massachusetts. Various investigators have reported on effects of oil on arctic freshwater systems (Barsdate et al, 1980, Miller et al, 1978Rosenberg & Wiens, 1976;Snow & Rosenberg, 1975).…”

Distribution of Hexagenia nymphs and visible oil in sediments of the Upper Great Lakes Connecting Channels

“…The visible oil reported in the present study is probably the lighter fraction of oil in sediments, because it floats easily in water and is often aromatic . In general, lighter oil fractions are more toxic than heavier fractions to aquatic organisms because the lighter fractions contain water-soluble compounds, such as benzene, toluene, and naphthalene, that in low concentration (about 1 mg 1 -') reduce the growth, reproduction, and survival of many aquatic plants and animals (McCauley, 1966 ;Emery, 1972 ;Anderson, 1977 ;Burk, 1977). However, in view of our findings that some visible oils appear to be toxic to Hexagenia nymphs, whereas others do not, we recommend that laboratory and field bioassays be performed to demonstrate the relative toxicity of oiled sediments from representative segments of the Great Lakes Connecting Channels .…”

The environmental impact of crude oil formation water: A multivariate approach

“…Between 1976 and 1996 a total of 4647 incidents resulted in the spill of approximately 2,369,470 barrels of oil in the Niger Delta (Egberongbe et al, 2006). McCauley (1966) observed that oil has a high oxygen demand ranging from 3.1 to 3.5 mg of oxygen per mg of oil decomposed. The fourth and fifth principal components have a high loading on pH, temperature and oil, COD and zinc.…”