Laboratory testing protocol for the impact of dispersed petrochemicals on seagrass

Wilson, K.G.; Ralph, P.J.

Laboratory testing protocol for the impact of dispersed petrochemicals on seagrass

2012

Wilson, K.G. | Ralph, P.J.

To improve the effectiveness of oil spill mitigation, we developed a rapid, logistically simple protocol to detect petrochemical stress on seagrass. Sections of leaf blades from Zostera muelleri subsp. capricorni were exposed to the water accommodated fraction (WAF) of non-dispersed and dispersed Tapis crude oil and fuel oil (IFO-380) for 5h. Photosynthetic health was monitored by assessing changes in effective quantum yield of photosystem II (ΔF/Fₘ ′) and chlorophyll a pigment concentrations. Loss of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) was measured using an oil-in-water fluorometer, whilst GC–MS analyses quantified the hydrocarbon components within each treatment. Few significant differences were detected in the chlorophyll a pigment analyses; however, ΔF/Fₘ ′ appeared sensitive to petrochemical exposure. Dispersing both types of oil resulted in a substantial increase in the TPH of the WAF and was generally correlated with a greater physiological impact to the seagrass health, compared with the oil alone.

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