Publication Date:
2022-05-26
Description:
Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
June, 1975
Description:
The studies described in this thesis were designed to answer
several problems relating to the recovery of a salt marsh heavily
polluted by an accidental spill of Number 2 fuel oil. Field and
laboratory studies were conducted for 5 years comparing the oiled
Wild Harbor Marsh with the unoiled Sippewissett Marsh, both on
Buzzards Bay in Massachusetts. The data contributes information
1) on the incorporation of oil into the sediments and organisms
at the oiled marsh, 2) on the residence times of certain components
of the oil in the marsh ecosystem, 3) on changes in chemical
composition of the oil with time due to physical and chemical
weathering processes and biochemical degradation of hydrocarbons,
4) on the effects of oiled sediments on the population distribution,
behavior, and survival of the intertidal fiddler crab,
Uca pugnax, 5) on the relatively small ability of Uca to
metabolize hydrocarbons, 6) on the presence of an inducible in
vitro microsomal mixed function oxidase (MFO) enzyme system in
the marsh minnow, Fundulus heteroclitus, 7) on the presence of
high MFO rates in field populations of Fundulus exosed to hydrocarbon
pollution, and 8) for the synthesis into a discussion of
some of the physiological reasons for the relative sensitivity
of marsh animals to oil pollution and their relative ability to
adapt to an oil polluted environment.
Description:
Support for my doctoral work was provided by The Bureau of
Commercial Fisheries Fish and Wildlife grant no. l4-l7-0007-ll28 (G),
The Jesse-Smith Noyes Foundation, National Science Foundation Doctorai
Dissertation Improvement grant no. GA 40987, and the Woods Hole
Oceanographic Institution Education Program.
Keywords:
Salt marsh ecology
;
Oil pollution of rivers, harbors
;
Pollution physiological effect
Repository Name:
Woods Hole Open Access Server
Type:
Thesis
Format:
application/pdf
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