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Impact of 'Chitra' oil spill on tidal pool macrobenthic communities of a tropical rocky shore (Mumbai, India)

DRS at CSIR-National Institute of Oceanography

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Title Impact of 'Chitra' oil spill on tidal pool macrobenthic communities of a tropical rocky shore (Mumbai, India)
 
Creator Sukumaran, S.
Mulik, J.
Rokade, M.A.
Kamble, A.
 
Subject oil spill
rocky shore
benthos
species diversity
 
Description A collision between the ships MSC Chitra and MV Khalijia 3 in the mouth region of Mumbai Harbour led to a leakage of around 800 t of fuel oil in August 2010, affecting the rocky intertidal region of Colaba. To evaluate the impact of this catastrophic event on the resident biota, a 15-month-long sampling programme was initiated in the oil-affected area immediately after the spill. Petroleum hydrocarbons in water and sediment organic carbon values were high just after the oil spill but subsequently decreased in the following months. In total, 70 macrobenthic taxa were identified. Univariate diversity indices indicated that while the ecological status of the site, albeit briefly, was affected during August 2010, a healthy environment prevailed subsequently. Cluster and multi-dimensional scale (MDS) analyses distinctly segregated the oil impacted monsoon months from the other sampling months. BIOENV analyses indicated that petroleum hydrocarbons and organic carbon were the anthropogenic parameters influencing macrobenthic community structure. Benthic Opportunistic Polychaetes Amphipods (BOPA) index was used to evaluate the ecological quality of the study area as the index is sensitive to oil pollution. Low BOPA values throughout the study period indicated that the environment was good with few opportunistic species. Comparison with past data revealed that the oil spill did not have long-term deleterious effects on the macrobenthic species diversity of this rocky beach, and reasons thereof are discussed.
 
Date 2014-11-28T07:03:04Z
2014-11-28T07:03:04Z
2014
 
Type Journal Article
 
Identifier Estuaries and Coasts, vol.37(6); 2014; 1415-1431
no
http://drs.nio.org/drs/handle/2264/4641
 
Language en
 
Relation Estuar_Coast_37_1415.jpg
 
Rights An edited version of this paper was published by Springer. This paper is for R & D purpose and Copyright [2014] Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation.
 
Publisher Coastal and Estuarine Research Federation