title: Laboratory testing protocol for the impact of dispersed petrochemicals on seagrass.
abstract: To improve the effectiveness of oil spill mitigation, we developed a rapid, logistically simple protocol to detect petrochemical stress on seagrass. Sections of leaf blades from Zostera muelleri subsp. capricorni were exposed to the water accommodated fraction (WAF) of non-dispersed and dispersed Tapis crude oil and fuel oil (IFO-380) for 5h. Photosynthetic health was monitored by assessing changes in effective quantum yield of photosystem II (ΔF/F(m)(')) and chlorophyll a pigment concentrations. Loss of total petroleum hydrocarbons (TPH) was measured using an oil-in-water fluorometer, whilst GC-MS analyses quantified the hydrocarbon components within each treatment. Few significant differences were detected in the chlorophyll a pigment analyses; however, ΔF/F(m)(') appeared sensitive to petrochemical exposure. Dispersing both types of oil resulted in a substantial increase in the TPH of the WAF and was generally correlated with a greater physiological impact to the seagrass health, compared with the oil alone.
authors.affiliation: Plant Functional Biology and Climate Change Cluster, University of Technology, Sydney, PO Box 123, Broadway, NSW 2007, Australia.
authors.forename: K G
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Ralph
mesh_terms: D002734:Chlorophyll / Q000378:metabolism; D000077194:Chlorophyll A; D006838:Hydrocarbons / Q000633:toxicity*; D007753:Laboratories; D010578:Petroleum / Q000633:toxicity*; D010788:Photosynthesis / Q000187:drug effects; D018675:Toxicity Tests / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical / Q000633:toxicity*; D035962:Zosteraceae / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D006838:Hydrocarbons; D010578:Petroleum; D014874:Water Pollutants, Chemical; D002734:Chlorophyll; D000077194:Chlorophyll A