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Science 29 July 1977:
Vol. 197. no. 4302, pp. 484 - 487
DOI: 10.1126/science.197.4302.484
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Articles

Long-Term Effects of an Oil Spill on Populations of the Salt-Marsh Crab Uca pugnax

CHARLES T. KREBS 1 and KATHRYN A. BURNS 2

1 Division of Natural Science and Mathematics, St. Mary's College, St. Mary's City, Maryland 20686
2 Marine Chemistry Unit, 7B Parliament Place, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia 3002

A spill of fuel oil at West Falmouth, Massachusetts, in 1969, contaminated contiguous salt marshes with up to 6000 micrograms of oil per gram (ppm) of wet mud and affected local populations of Uca pugnax. Directly related to high-sediment oil content were reduced crab density, reduced ratio of females to males, reduced juvenile settlement, heavy overwinter mortality, incorporation of oil into body tissues, behavioral disorders such as locomotor impairment, and abnormal burrow construction. Concentrations of weathered fuel oil greater than 1000 ppm were directly toxic to adults, while those of 100 to 200 ppm were toxic to juveniles. Cumulative effects occurred at lower concentrations. Recovery of the marsh from this relatively small oil spill is still incomplete after 7 years.

Submitted on December 28, 1976
Revised on March 22, 1977


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Ecosystem stability: some recent perspectives.
A.R. Hill (1987)
Progress in Physical Geography 11, 315-333
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