Marine iguanas die from trace oil pollution.
An oil tanker ran aground on the Galapagos island of San Cristóbal on 17 January 2001, spilling roughly three million litres of diesel and bunker oil. The slick started to spread westwards and was dispersed by strong currents, so only a few marine animals were killed immediately as a result. Here we draw on the long-term data sets gathered before the spill to show that a population of marine iguanas (Amblyrhychus cristatus) on Sante Fe island suffered a massive 62% mortality in the year after the accident, due to a small amount of residual oil contamination in the sea. Another population on the more remote island of Genovesa was unaffected.
Wikelski
Martin
M
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA. wikelski@princeton.edu
Wong
Vanessa
V
Chevalier
Brett
B
Rattenborg
Niels
N
Snell
Howard L
HL
D000305:Adrenal Cortex Hormones / Q000097:blood; D000818:Animals; D004063:Digestion / Q000187:drug effects; D004190:Disasters; D004484:Ecuador; D004787:Environmental Pollution / Q000009:adverse effects*; D056890:Eukaryota / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D020387:Food Chain; D005742:Gasoline / Q000009:adverse effects; D007076:Iguanas / Q000097:blood / Q000502:physiology*; D008954:Models, Biological; D010578:Petroleum / Q000009:adverse effects*; D013559:Symbiosis / Q000187:drug effects
D000305:Adrenal Cortex Hormones; D005742:Gasoline; D010578:Petroleum