SGER: Monitoring the Effects of the January 17, 2001 Oil Spill on Galapagos Marine Iguanas

SGER：监测 2001 年 1 月 17 日漏油事件对加拉帕戈斯海鬣蜥的影响

• 批准号: 0118069
• 负责人: Martin Wikelski
• 金额: $ 3.28万
• 依托单位: Princeton University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2001
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2001-06-15 至 2003-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0118069&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: SGER; Monitoring; Effects; January; 17

On January 17, 2001, a medium size oil spill hit the Galapagos islands, Ecuador, a Natural World Heritage site. Although few animals were killed immediately, there is strong concern about the long-term impacts on the endemic wildlife. Long-lived species, like the marine iguana (Amblyrhynchus cristatus) in particular, offer ideal model systems to study potential chronic effects of environmental pollution. Marine iguanas forage on intertidal algae and are therefore highly exposed to water-borne pollutants. I have 14 years of physiological and demographic data for the marine iguana population most strongly affected, on Santa Fe island. Furthermore, as part of my most recent field project, I collected baseline data on environmental stress (plasma corticosterone levels), algae quality and digestive endosymbionts up to two days before the oil spill (Jan 17, 2001). Ample pre-oil spill data are also available for El Nino, La Nina and 'regular' seasons. To quantify the impacts of oiling I propose to measure the following parameters immediately, 3 months, 6 months and 9 months after the spill: i) baseline and stress-induced corticosterone levels, ii) blood cell counts, iii) activity of hindgut endosymbiontic microbes, iv) standing algae crop, and v) survival rates of individually marked animals. Furthermore, an Ecuadorian assistant will conduct an experiment simulating an oil spill on captive marine iguanas at the Charles Darwin Research Station. This experiment will also allow us to test the feasibility of re-inoculating the hindgut of oiled marine iguanas with microbes from unaffected conspecifics. My detailed pre-spill data will allow me to quantify behavioral and physiological consequences of a severe environmental perturbation. These data will be immensely important for conservation and policy measures in Galapagos but will also be scientifically useful for global conservation issues.

2001年1月17日，中等大小的漏油事件袭击了自然世界遗产厄瓜多尔的加拉帕戈斯群岛。尽管很少有动物立即被杀死，但人们对对地方性野生动植物的长期影响有很大的关注。尤其是海洋鬣蜥（Amblyrhynchus cristatus）等长寿物种，提供了理想的模型系统来研究环境污染的潜在慢性影响。海洋鬣蜥在潮间藻类上觅食，因此高度暴露于水传播污染物中。我在圣达菲岛（Santa Fe Island）有14年的生理和人口统计数据对海洋鬣蜥人群受到最大影响。此外，作为我最近的现场项目的一部分，我收集了有关环境应力（血浆皮质酮水平），藻类质量和消化性内共生菌的基线数据，最多可在漏油之前两天（2001年1月17日）。 El Nino，La Nina和“常规”季节还可以使用足够的前油溢出数据。为了量化上油的影响，我建议立即测量以下参数，3个月，6个月和9个月后：i）基线和压力诱导的皮质酮水平，ii）血细胞计数，iii）印后内共生型菌群的活性，iv）静脉藻类，iv）静脉藻类和v）的生存率。此外，厄瓜多尔助手将在查尔斯·达尔文（Charles Darwin）研究站对俘虏海洋鬣蜥进行漏油进行实验。该实验还将使我们能够测试重新连接的可行性，使其与来自未受影响的同种体的微生物重新灌输上油的海洋鬣蜥。我的详细溢流数据将使我能够量化严重环境扰动的行为和生理后果。这些数据对于加拉帕戈斯群岛的保护和政策措施将非常重要，但对于全球保护问题也将非常有用。