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Unexpectedly high mortality in Pacific herring embryos exposed to the 2007 Cosco Busan oil spill in San Francisco Bay.

ABSTRACT: In November 2007, the container ship Cosco Busan released 54,000 gallons of bunker fuel oil into San Francisco Bay. The accident oiled shoreline near spawning habitats for the largest population of Pacific herring on the west coast of the continental United States. We assessed the health and viability of herring embryos from oiled and unoiled locations that were either deposited by natural spawning or incubated in subtidal cages. Three months after the spill, caged embryos at oiled sites showed sublethal cardiac toxicity, as expected from exposure to oil-derived polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs). By contrast, embryos from the adjacent and shallower intertidal zone showed unexpectedly high rates of tissue necrosis and lethality unrelated to cardiotoxicity. No toxicity was observed in embryos from unoiled sites. Patterns of PACs at oiled sites were consistent with oil exposure against a background of urban sources, although tissue concentrations were lower than expected to cause lethality. Embryos sampled 2 y later from oiled sites showed modest sublethal cardiotoxicity but no elevated necrosis or mortality. Bunker oil contains the chemically uncharacterized remains of crude oil refinement, and one or more of these unidentified chemicals likely interacted with natural sunlight in the intertidal zone to kill herring embryos. This reveals an important discrepancy between the resolving power of current forensic analytical chemistry and biological responses of keystone ecological species in oiled habitats. Nevertheless, we successfully delineated the biological impacts of an oil spill in an urbanized coastal estuary with an overlapping backdrop of atmospheric, vessel, and land-based sources of PAC pollution.

SUBMITTER: Incardona JP

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3258612 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Unexpectedly high mortality in Pacific herring embryos exposed to the 2007 Cosco Busan oil spill in San Francisco Bay.

Incardona John P JP Vines Carol A CA Anulacion Bernadita F BF Baldwin David H DH Day Heather L HL French Barbara L BL Labenia Jana S JS Linbo Tiffany L TL Myers Mark S MS Olson O Paul OP Sloan Catherine A CA Sol Sean S Griffin Frederick J FJ Menard Karl K Morgan Steven G SG West James E JE Collier Tracy K TK Ylitalo Gina M GM Cherr Gary N GN Scholz Nathaniel L NL

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20111227 2

In November 2007, the container ship Cosco Busan released 54,000 gallons of bunker fuel oil into San Francisco Bay. The accident oiled shoreline near spawning habitats for the largest population of Pacific herring on the west coast of the continental United States. We assessed the health and viability of herring embryos from oiled and unoiled locations that were either deposited by natural spawning or incubated in subtidal cages. Three months after the spill, caged embryos at oiled sites showed ...[more]

PMID: 22203989

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Project description:Understanding habitat associations is vital for conservation of at-risk marsh-endemic wildlife species, particularly those under threat from sea level rise. We modeled environmental and habitat associations of the marsh-endemic, Federally endangered salt marsh harvest mouse (Reithrodontomys raviventris, RERA) and co-occurrence with eight associated small mammal species from annual trap data, 1998-2014, in six estuarine marshes in North San Francisco Bay, California. Covariates included microhabitat metrics of elevation and vegetation species and cover; and landscape metrics of latitude-longitude, distance to anthropogenic features, and habitat patch size. The dominant cover was pickleweed (Salicornia pacifica) with 86% mean cover and 37 cm mean height, and bare ground with about 10% mean cover. We tested 38 variants of Bayesian network (BN) models to determine covariates that best account for presence of RERA and of all nine small mammal species. Best models had lowest complexity and highest classification accuracy. Among RERA presence models, three best BN models used covariates of latitude-longitude, distance to paved roads, and habitat patch size, with 0% error of false presence, 20% error of false nonpresence, and 20% overall error. The all-species presence models suggested that within the pickleweed marsh environment, RERA are mostly habitat generalists. Accounting for presence of other species did not improve prediction of RERA. Habitat attributes compared between RERA and the next most frequently captured species, California vole (Microtus californicus), suggested substantial habitat overlap, with RERA habitat being somewhat higher in marsh elevation, greater in percent cover of the dominant plant species, closer to urban areas, further from agricultural areas, and, perhaps most significant, larger in continuous size of marsh patch. Findings will inform conservation management of the marsh environment for RERA by identifying best microhabitat elements, landscape attributes, and adverse interspecific interactions.

Dataset Information

Unexpectedly high mortality in Pacific herring embryos exposed to the 2007 Cosco Busan oil spill in San Francisco Bay.

Publications

Unexpectedly high mortality in Pacific herring embryos exposed to the 2007 Cosco Busan oil spill in San Francisco Bay.

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