Estimation of Effects from Oil on Intertidal Populations: Experimental Perturbations Versus Natural Variation

摘要

Two experimental approaches to the investigation of effects of oil on intertidal population processes were evaluated in terms of effort required to quantitatively estimate effects of specific magnitudes. One approach used trays of oil-contaminated sediment placed in the low intertidal zone and subsequently treated in laboratory tanks. Three polychaete and two bivalve species were evaluated. It is concluded that quantitative studies would be feasible using the sediment tray approach but that the cost for high precision would be high. Quantitative studies with the bivalves using the sediment tray approach would be less expensive for given precision than would studies of polychaetes. (ERA citation 04:025453)