Experimental Crude Oil Spills on Arctic Plant Communities
Wein RW and Bliss LC. 1973. Experimental Crude Oil Spills on Arctic Plant Communities. Journal of Applied Ecology. 10(3):671-682
Five arctic plant community types were treated with differing rates of light gravity sweet crude oil at three times during the year. All actively growing plant tissue was destroyed. Plant recovery from latent buds of the dwarf shrub species especially Salix and Betula was faster than that of the sedge species. Lichens showed no recovery and only one moss Polytrichum juniperinum showed any regrowth. Crude oil damage was heavy in the summer because oil penetrated deeper into the soil profile. Winter spills also caused more damage than was expected. The extra energy absorbed on the contaminated plots was dissipated as latent heat of evaporation in the spring and as sensible heat later in the summer rather than in increasing the active layer depth. Microbial activity has increased and the more phytotoxic components of the petroleum are being degraded. Since total plant recovery has been 20-55% on the treated plots after one full growing season there appears to be considerable merit in leaving the contaminated area undisturbed. Continued monitoring will be required to determine if additional plant damage occurs or if plant recovery rates continue and if microbial activity changes the soil and plant nutritional status.
- Type
- Journal Article
- Authors
- Wein, Ross; Bliss, L
- Units
- ARCN , BELA , CAKR , GAAR , KOVA , NOAT
- Keywords
- Arctic, Canada, Contaminants, Crude Oil, Disturbance, Human, Recovery, Sensitivity, Vegetation