Extreme Biology

Seagulls: The Unlikely Link to Oil Spills

by Grant W

Now, you may know that the earth we live on today is highly polluted. One of the worst forms of pollution that we inflict, whether purposely or because of some accident, is an oil spill. Oil spills can be very dangerous to the populations of the specific ecosystem where the oil was spilled. Luckily, oil spills are able to be cleaned which saves the lives of many animals. However, it is incredibly hard to monitor the health of the ecosystem affected by the oil spill after the clean up has been made. Scientists may have found a way to monitor these ecosystems.

Blood tests that were conducted by many scientists at different universities and other institutions have shown that the pollutants left over from the oil spill, long after the clean up, can be extracted from the blood of yellow-legged seagulls. This study, Monitoring PAH pollution in the marine environment after the Prestige oil-spill by means of seabird blood analysis, has helped to show some of the long term affects that the pollutants from oil spills have on the different animals living in the affected ecosystem after it had been cleaned.

“This study highlights the delayed effects of oil spills that we know very little about,” said Stuart Bearhop, a conservation biologist at the University of Exeter in England who was not involved in the study. “It’s very easy to see what happens right after an oil spill: everything dies. But there are probably a lot of later effects we’ve overlooked.”

The seagulls that eat some of the oil from the spills form chemicals in their bodies that are known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons(PAHs), which are compounds that have been connected with cancer in humans. The PAH levels are tested by capturing live birds, taking a small blood sample from them, and then releasing them into the wild. The tests showed that birds that lived near the Prestige oil spill had twice as much PAH as birds that are unaffected by oil spills.

Below are two graphs that show the levels of PAH in yellow-legged gulls from colonies exposed to oil and some not exposed to oil (graph A) and from gulls that were fed vegetable oil and Prestige oil (graph B). In the groups not exposed to oil (unshaded) it is evident that PAH levels are much lower than when the gull is exposed to oil (shaded). In the supplemented oil study, gulls exposed to oil had PAH levels around 85 total PAHs while gulls unexposed to the oil had around 60-65 PAHs.

Graph source

The tests used in this study were only being done to animals that were already dead or they were done by taking a blood sample from a living gull, which does not hurt it. This study could possibly be a huge step forward in learning some of the long-term effects of oil spills so that animals that are in areas where these spills happened can be better watched over and taken care of (Source).

This entry was posted on Monday, May 5th, 2008 at 7:19 pm and is filed under Student Post, Ecology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

9 Responses to “Seagulls: The Unlikely Link to Oil Spills”

Caroline Says:
May 5th, 2008 at 8:21 pm
That was interesting to learn that these sea gulls are being hurt by the oil spills. When you think of an oil spill you think of the danger it creates when it is in the water. I don’t think people necessarily think about what it does to the ecosystem over time. I found an article about the Exxon Valdez oil spill. It said that there is a possibility that there might not be any long term effects. They said that the oil is not that toxic if it is digested in small amounts. It also said that often oil spills don’t get all the way cleaned up. With this said it means that it might not be a long term effect at all, but it may be them eating oil that is left over. It also brought up an interesting concept of survival of the fittest. Here is the article…
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1134510.stm
Great post Grant!
Kt Says:
May 5th, 2008 at 8:31 pm
Very interesting article Grant. I’ve always heard about oil spills and the effects they have on the environment, but I never really hear about problems after they occur. It seems that after the oil spill is cleaned up and the animals effected are nurtured that things would be fixed, but apparently thats not the whole story. Although it actually fits together, I never put two and two together to figure out that there can be major after-effects to these spills. Especially ones that could be as serious and fatal as cancer. One example of EXTREMELY long effects of oil spills on animals are the otters effected by the oil spill in Exxon Valdez in Alaska, who remain suffering 12 years later. Known long-term effects by ingestion of oil include suppression of the immune system, organ damage, skin irritation, damage to the adrenal system, and behavioral changes. If the immune system is damaged, secondary infections may occur that can lead to death and behavioral changes may cause the animal to decrease in it’s ability to find food and avoid predators. Oil spills can also lead up to impairment of the reproduction system, effecting the animals biological goal, to survive to reproduce. But most animals who have suffered an oil spill do not live long enough for long term effects to even take place. Many birds and fur-bearing mammals who come in contact with oil have the insulation of their fur and feathers destroyed and they then die of hypothermia. Some birds become too heavily oiled and loose their ability to fly and drown. And when these animals try to clean themselves off, they can ingest the oil which can cause them to die instantly or causes lung, liver, and or kidney damage which can lead to death.
Jon Says:
May 5th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
I agree with what Stuart Bearhop said about the long term effects of oil spills. Its very easy to see what happens 10 or 20 years after an oil spill but what about hundreds of years from now? Im sure that hundreds of years ago there were lightning storms that destroyed entire forests and severely hurt the ecosystem at that time. But the ecosystem restored itself and today there is no mark left that it was destroyed hundreds of years ago. Oil has not even been around that long so it is extremely hard to determine what long term effects it has on the environment. This website (http://www.seed.slb.com/qa2/FAQView.cfm?ID=906) shows when oil was discovered and when it was first put into production.
Hank Says:
May 5th, 2008 at 9:48 pm
This is some really valueble information that can be used to help treat the animals who have the after effects of the oil spills. It shows us what to look for in the animals and what we can do to treat them. I knew that oil spills were bad but I had no idea that they could have such long term effects. Here are two amazing site that I found that talk about how oil spills cause damage, what the effects of oil spills not only on marine life but also on the environment. They show just how bad oil spills are.http://www.itopf.com/marine-spills/effects/
http://response.restoration.noaa.gov/topic_subtopic_entry.php?RECORD_KEY%28entry_subtopic_topic%29=entry_id,subtopic_id,topic_id&entry_id(entry_subtopic_topic)=184&subtopic_id(entry_subtopic_topic)=8&topic_id(entry_subtopic_topic)=1
Oil spills are usually the result of carelessness and a lack of responsability! Some much damage can be caused just by one persons mistake!
Grant T Says:
May 6th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
This is new information to me. I always knew that oil spills were bad for the environment and ecosystems, but I had no idea that it could have such long term affects of animals such as seagulls. As Hank said, this new study can be used to help learn about the effects of oil spills on animals and what we can do to treat them. A current event in the news has been that some people think that we should drill for oil in Alaska, instead of relying on the Middle East. Gas prices would go down, but there could be oil spills, and that would be devastating for the ecosystems and environment in Alaska.

We can all recall back to the popular post in the Fall on November 8, “Oiled”. California declared a state of emergency after 58,000 gallons of oil spilled into the ocean when a container ship ran into a tower. The effects of this oil spill will be felt for years. This is one example of a terrible spill that will have long effects.

http://www.missbakersbiologyclass.com/blog/2007/11/12/oiled
Rachel P Says:
May 6th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
Cool post Grant! When you think of oil spills, you always think of how much it is affecting the animals at that point. I never thought about how it could affect them years from the spill. I also never thought about how it could affect humans. According to this website http://oils.gpa.unep.org/facts/economy-health.ht oils spills can have great affects on humans. They can affect the economy, since fishing areas are closed and many people rely on it for jobs and their equitment could get damaged. Also some industries that depend on clean water can get hurt. Not only do the oil spills affect the economy, but they can also affect human health. If someone accidentaly eats contaminated fish or other sea food, inhales the oil, or touches the oil, it can be a big risk to their health.
Steph Says:
May 8th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
That’s really awful that the effects of an oil spill can last so long. I have heard about oil spills on the news before, and someone would assure people that it had been cleaned up and everything would be okay. You never hear about the aftermath of oil spills. It is good that we can now monitor the effects of oil spills through blood samples from these seagulls. Maybe that can help people find new ways to prevent oil spills or better ways to clean up an oil spill to reduce the long-term effects they have. I think Jon has a really good point. What effects could these spills have a hundred years from now? I imagine it takes a cery long time for the environment to repair itself after one of these spills, but it must be harder for the environment to revive since oil is a fairly new substance and the environment has not had much time to adapt to it and find ways to combat it. Great post Grant!
BRyant Says:
May 9th, 2008 at 11:07 pm
HMMMMMM……..

Grant, your post said that this PAH chemical has been linked to cancer in humans. What if these tests being done were instrumental in figuring out a human cure for caner! Maybe those same pollutant chemicals are some of the chemicals we’re taking in everyday, only, they might be from something other than oil spils-like smog. Maybe the pollution we’re taking in makes a chemical reaction with hydrocarbons already in the body, thus making this PAH, then somehow causing, or influencing cancer? I mean, think about it! These animals feed in an aquatic enviornment that’s been poluted with oil and get the PAH, while the same exact thing has happened on land, only with other various forms of pollution. WHO’S TO SAY WE AS HUMANS DONT HAVE THE PAH chemicals in us? Maybe it’s just a matter of time before an animal sadly catches cancer, and from them, we can figure out the cure, but I guess that’s only if this PAH chemical had anything to do with it. How cool would that be if somehow, this blog post was instrumental in the cure for cancer? Actually, I guess that’s not such a highly probable thing.-nothing wrong with wishful thinkning!
Billy Says:
May 11th, 2008 at 9:02 pm
That was a very interesting post Grant. When I think of oil spills I think of immediate causes. I don’t think of long term problems. I also don’t think about seagulls being harmed. I would think more about he fish in the water. Know seeing that oil spills affect birds it was very surprising. Oil spills sre bad for everybody and everthing. They are bad for nature and they are bad for humans too. You don’t think as much about humans being affected as much as you do animals. But humans are affected because like Rachel said alot of people rely on clean water to do things like fishing and other ocean jobs. Also if you are pulling water from where an oil spill happened you would have water that has oil in it. That water with oil in it is bad for your grass and if you used that water to cool down machines that you use your machines could be damaged because of the oil.

Seagulls: The Unlikely Link to Oil Spills

9 Responses to “Seagulls: The Unlikely Link to Oil Spills”

Leave a Reply