On Drawing Conclusions Nine Years after the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill
Wiens JA, Day RH, Murphy SM, Parker KR. 2001. On Drawing Conclusions Nine Years after the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill. The Condor. 103(4):886-892
We comment on the paper of Irons et al. (2000), which evaluated the status of several marine bird taxa in Prince William Sound, Alaska, nine years after the Exxon Valdez oil spill. We discuss concerns about the effects on the study design of inherent differences between the oiled and unoiled areas; about interpretations of results that use inconsistent criteria to define the spatial scales of analysis; and about explanations of underlying causes that are not empirically founded. These comments highlight general difficulties in assessing the effects of large-scale environmental perturbations. It is important to draw conclusions about the effects of such events, but the conclusions must be founded on accuracy in reporting study results, caution in interpreting the results, and adequate consideration of alternative causal explanations for the observed results.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Wiens, John; Day, Robert; Murphy, Stephen; Parker, Keith
- Units
- GLBA , KLGO , SEAN , SITK
- Keywords
- Abundance, Birds, Displacement, Distribution, Disturbance, Ecosystem, Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, Habitat Use, Impact, Kenai Peninsula, Kodiak Island, marine bird populations, Mortality, mussel beds, Oil Spills, oiling, Pacific, Persistence, Prince William Sound, Recovery, Seabirds, Sediments, Shorebirds, Waterfowl