Zooplankton community structure in Southampton Water and its potential response to estuary chronic oil pollution
Zooplankton community structure in Southampton Water and its potential response to estuary chronic oil pollution
The Southampton Water zooplankton community was last studied extensively in the end of the 1950's, and the impact on the community structure of a substantial oil refinery was never practically evaluated. The present research re-evaluted the zooplankton community structure within Southampton Water both in space and in time, over a two year sampling programme. While species composition of the zooplankton community was fairly uniform throughout the estuary, certain trends were evident with calanoid copepods dominating in numbers during the winter months and other species, such as cirripede and polychate larvae, showing preference at either end of the estuary. The ecotoxicological assessment of hydrocarbon pollution involved a synthetic oil, representative of the refinery discharged effluent, whose aromatic hydrocarbons were composed mainly of alkyl benzenes and toluene compounds. The laboratory experiments demonstrated that calanoids and cirripede larvae were affected by 48 h EC50 oil concentrations ranging from 2.41 to 7.88 mg/l, and also displayed an increase in oxygen consumption patterns at the tested concentration of 433 μg/1, over a 72 h period. Considering the effluent dispersion, time of residence within the water column, and known hydrocarbon concentrations in the estuary, it was concluded that the zooplankton community could potentially suffer sub-lethal damage in certain restricted areas of Southampton Water.
University of Southampton
1989
Zinger, Irene
(1989)
Zooplankton community structure in Southampton Water and its potential response to estuary chronic oil pollution.
University of Southampton, Doctoral Thesis.
Record type:
Thesis
(Doctoral)
Abstract
The Southampton Water zooplankton community was last studied extensively in the end of the 1950's, and the impact on the community structure of a substantial oil refinery was never practically evaluated. The present research re-evaluted the zooplankton community structure within Southampton Water both in space and in time, over a two year sampling programme. While species composition of the zooplankton community was fairly uniform throughout the estuary, certain trends were evident with calanoid copepods dominating in numbers during the winter months and other species, such as cirripede and polychate larvae, showing preference at either end of the estuary. The ecotoxicological assessment of hydrocarbon pollution involved a synthetic oil, representative of the refinery discharged effluent, whose aromatic hydrocarbons were composed mainly of alkyl benzenes and toluene compounds. The laboratory experiments demonstrated that calanoids and cirripede larvae were affected by 48 h EC50 oil concentrations ranging from 2.41 to 7.88 mg/l, and also displayed an increase in oxygen consumption patterns at the tested concentration of 433 μg/1, over a 72 h period. Considering the effluent dispersion, time of residence within the water column, and known hydrocarbon concentrations in the estuary, it was concluded that the zooplankton community could potentially suffer sub-lethal damage in certain restricted areas of Southampton Water.
This record has no associated files available for download.
More information
Published date: 1989
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 461577
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/461577
PURE UUID: 4a8733c0-e5ac-4ab3-a4e2-f4e9892d842c
Catalogue record
Date deposited: 04 Jul 2022 18:50
Last modified: 04 Jul 2022 18:50
Export record
Contributors
Author:
Irene Zinger
Download statistics
Downloads from ePrints over the past year. Other digital versions may also be available to download e.g. from the publisher's website.
View more statistics