Ecology

Findings from Texas Technical University Advance Knowledge in Environmental Research

  2012 JUL 20 (VerticalNews) -- By a News Reporter-Staff News Editor at Ecology, Environment & Conservation -- Current study results on Environmental Research have been published. According to news reporting originating from Lubbock, Texas, by VerticalNews correspondents, researchers stated "Dispersants are applied to marine crude oil spills to enhance microbial degradation and reduce impacts of crude oils on ecosystems. In summer 2010, the dispersant Corexit 9500 was applied to crude oil in the Gulf of Mexico."

  Our news editors obtained a quote from the research by the authors from Texas Technical University, "The co-occurrence of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill with nesting efforts of birds in the Gulf region may have resulted in exposure of adult birds, and subsequently bird eggs, to combinations of crude oil and Corexit 9500. The objective of this study was to examine the embryotoxicity of 50:1 and 10:1 mixtures of weathered crude oil collected from the Gulf of Mexico and Corexit 9500 applied to mallard duck eggs. Combinations of weathered crude oil and Corexit 9500 were applied to eggshells of mallard ducks via paintbrush in varying masses ranging from 0.1 to 59.9 mg and 0.1 to 44.9 mg for 50:1 and 10:1 mixtures, respectively. Conservatively derived median lethal applications for 50:1 and 10:1 mixtures of weathered crude oil and Corexit 9500 were 21.3 +/- 4.9 mg/egg (321.8 mu g/g egg) and 33.1 +/- 11.8 mg/egg (517.0 mu g/g egg), respectively. Spleen mass of hatchlings exposed to the 50:1 mixture was the only physiological measure significantly different from controls of both mixtures. Results indicated that decreasing ratios of dispersant relative to weathered crude oil decreased toxicity to mallard embryos."

  According to the news editors, the researchers concluded: "In comparison to treatments of eggs with weathered crude oil alone, toxicity increased when the oil to dispersant ratio was 50:1, but decreased with the mixture that contained more dispersant (10:1)."

  For more information on this research see: Embryotoxicity of mixtures of weathered crude oil collected from the Gulf of Mexico and Corexit 9500 in mallard ducks (Anas platyrhynchos). Science of the Total Environment, 2012;426():155-159. Science of the Total Environment can be contacted at: Elsevier Science Bv, PO Box 211, 1000 Ae Amsterdam, Netherlands. (Elsevier - www.elsevier.com; Science of the Total Environment - www.elsevier.com/wps/product/cws_home/503360)

  The news editors report that additional information may be obtained by contacting B.E. Finch, Texas Technical University, Inst Environm & Human Hlth, Dept. of Environm Toxicol, Lubbock, TX 79409, United States.

  Keywords for this news article include: Texas, Energy, Lubbock, Oil & Gas, Oil Spill, United States, Environmental Research, North and Central America

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