Altered grazing patterns in an experimental copepod-alga ecosystem exposed to naphthalene and Kuwait crude oil
The authors became interested in the potential disruption of predator-prey relationships after they observed that naphthalene, as well as a number of oils, changed the swimming behavior of the unicellular flagellate alga Pavlova lutheri (formerly Monochrysis lutheri). Reasoning that alterations in the motility of a prey species would render it more susceptible to predation, the authors examined the hydrocarbon-induced changes in predation success in a simple two-member prey-predator system consisting only of P. lutheri and the marine copepod Calanus finmarchicus. The organisms were exposed, together, to low concentrations of either naphthalene or Kuwait crude oil dissolved in seawater, and the feeding efficiency of the copepods under these conditions was measured by counting the survival of algal cells. Naphthalene was chosen because it is a relatively simple toxic aromatic hydrocarbon, common to all crude oils and most refined products and their aqueous extracts. Kuwait crude oil was used as a representative oil mixture more commonly encountered under spillage conditions.
- Research Organization:
- Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
- OSTI ID:
- 5649848
- Journal Information:
- Bull. Environ. Contam. Toxicol.; (United States), Vol. 36:2
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
ALGAE
POPULATION DYNAMICS
COPEPODS
NAPHTHALENE
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
PETROLEUM
AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS
BEHAVIOR
OIL SPILLS
PREDATOR-PREY INTERACTIONS
ANIMALS
AQUATIC ORGANISMS
AROMATICS
ARTHROPODS
CONDENSED AROMATICS
CRUSTACEANS
ECOSYSTEMS
ENERGY SOURCES
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
HYDROCARBONS
INVERTEBRATES
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
PLANTS
560304* - Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology- Invertebrates- (-1987)
560303 - Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology- Plants- (-1987)