Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Oil exposure in a warmer Arctic: potential impacts on key zooplankton species

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Marine Biology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Oil exploration activities are rapidly increasing in Arctic marine areas with potentially higher risks of oil spills to the environment. Water temperatures in Arctic marine areas are simultaneously increasing as a result of global warming. Potential effects of a combination of increased water temperature and exposure to the PAH pyrene were investigated on fecal pellet and, egg production and hatching success of two copepod species, Calanus finmarchicus and Calanus glacialis, sampled in Disko Bay, Greenland on 23–25 April 2008. The two species were exposed daily to nominal pyrene concentrations of 0-0.01-0.1-1-10-100 nM at water temperatures of 0.5, 5 and 8°C for 9 and 7 days, respectively. Daily measurements of faecal pellet production, egg production and hatching showed different responses of the two species to the applied stressors. When temperature increased, low concentrations of pyrene caused a decrease in faecal pellet production by C. finmarchicus, whereas C. glacialis faecal pellet production showed no negative response to pyrene exposure when temperatures increased. Pyrene exposure decreased egg production of C. finmarchicus at all temperatures, but the species was more sensitive at 0.5 and 8°C. A lag period of 1 day before egg production began was prolonged with several days when warmer water was combined with pyrene exposure. Egg production by C. glacialis was only negatively affected by pyrene in a dose-dependent manner at 0.5°C. Hatching success in both species was not affected by pyrene, where increased water temperatures led to a higher hatching success. In conclusion, C. glacialis seemed to be the less sensitive of the two species to the stress combination of increased water temperature and pyrene exposure. As a consequence of the differential responses of the two species, their competition can be impaired with a consequent impact on energy transfer between trophic levels.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • ACIA (Arctic Climate Impact Assessment) (2005) Arctic climate impact assessment. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • AMAP (2007) Arctic oil and gas 2007. Arctic monitoring and assessment programme, Oslo. xiii + 40 p

  • Arendt KE, Nielsen TG, Rysgaard S, Tönnesson K (2010) Differences in plankton community structure along the Godthåbsfjord, from the Greenland Ice Sheet to offshore waters. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 401:49–62

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Barata C, Calbet A, Saiz E, Ortiz L, Bayona JM (2005) Predicting single and mixture toxicity of petrogenic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons to the copepod Oithona davisae. Environ Toxicol Chem 24(11):2992–2999

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bellas J, Thor P (2007) Effects of selected PAHs on reproduction and survival of the calanoid copepod Acartia tonsa. Ecotoxicol 16:465–474

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Berrojalbiz N, Lacorte S, Calbet A, Saiz E, Barata C, Dachs J (2009) Accumulation and cycling of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in zooplankton. Environ Sci Technol 43(7):2295–2301

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bignert A, Cossa D, Emmerson R, Fryer R and others (2004) OSPAR/ICES workshop on the evaluation and update of background reference concentrations (B/RCs) and ecotoxicological assessment criteria (EACs) and how these assessment tools should be used in assessing contaminants in water, sediment, and biota. Workshop, The Hague, 9–13 February 2004. Final Report. OSPAR Commission

  • Buchmann MF (1999) NOAA screening quick reference tables, NOAA HAZMAT report 99–1, Coastal Protection and Restoration Division, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Seattle, WA

    Google Scholar 

  • Cailleaud K, Budzinski H, Le Menach K, Souissi S, Forget-Leray J (2009) Uptake and elimination of hydrophobic organic contaminants in estuarine copepods: an experimental study. Environ Toxicol Chem 28(2):239–246

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dachs J, Bayona JM, Fowler SW, Miquel J-C, Albaigés J (1996) Vertical fluxes of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and organochloringe compounds in the western Alboran Sea (southwestern Mediterranean). Mar Chem 52:75–86

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dünweber M, Swalethorp R, Kjellerup S, Nielsen TG, Others (2010) Succession and fate of the spring diatom bloom in Disko Bay, western Greenland. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 419:11–29

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Falk-Petersen S, Timofeev S, Pavlov V, Sargent JR (2006) Climate variability and the effect on arctic food chains. The role of Calanus. In: Orbaek JB et al (eds) Arctic-alpine ecosystems and people in a changing environment. Springer Verlag, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • Falk-Petersen S, Mayzaud P, Kattner G, Sargent JR (2009) Lipids and life strategy of Arctic Calanus. Mar Biol Res 5:18–39

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Forbes VE (2000) Is hormesis an evolutionary expectation? Funct Ecol 14(1):12–24

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hansen PJ (1989) The red tide dinoflagellate Alexandrium tamarense: effect on behaviour and growth of a tintinnid ciliate. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 53:105–116

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hansen BH, Altin D, Vang S-H, Nordtug T, Olsen AJ (2008) Effects of naphtalene on gene transcription in Calanus finmarchicus (Crustacea: Copepoda). Aquat Toxicol 86:157–165

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hirche H-J (1991) Distribution of dominant calanoid copepod species in the Greenland sea during late fall. Polar Biol 11:351–362

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hirche H-J, Kosobokova K (2007) Distribution of Calanus finmarchicus in the northern north Atlantic and Arctic ocean–expatriation and potential colonization. Deep-Sea Res II 54:2729–2747

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hjorth M, Dahllöf I (2008) A harpacticoid copepod Microsetella spp. from sub-arctic coastal waters and its sensitivity towards the polyaromatic hydrocarbon pyrene. Polar Biol 31(12):1437–1443

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holland DM, Thomas RH, Young BD, Ribergaard MH, Lyberth B (2008) Acceleration of Jakobshavn Isbræ triggered by warm subsurface ocean waters. Nature Geosci 1:659–664

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hylland K (2006) Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) ecotoxicology in marine ecosystems. J Toxicol Environ Health 69:109–123

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Jensen LK, Carroll J (2010) Experimental studies of reproduction and feeding for two Arctic-dwelling Calanus species exposed to crude oil. Aquat Biol 10:261–271

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jensen MH, Nielsen TG, Dahllöf I (2008) Effects of pyrene on grazing and reproduction of Calanus finmarchicus and Calanus glacialis from Disko Bay, West Greenland. Aquat Toxicol 87:99–107

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Juel-Pedersen T, Nielsen TG, Michel C, Møller EF, Others (2006) Sedimentation following the spring bloom in Disko Bay, West Greenland, with special emphasis on the role of copepods. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 314:239–255

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kaartvedt S (2000) Life history of Calanus finmarchicus in the Norwegian Sea in relation to planktivorous fish. ICES J Mar Sci 57:1819–1824

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karnovsky NJ, Hobson KA, Iverson S, Hunt GL Jr (2008) Seasonal changes in diets of seabirds in the North Water Polynya: a multiple-indicator approach. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 357:291–299

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Karnovsky NJ, Harding A, Walkusz W, Kwasniewski S, Goszczko I, others (2010) Foraging distributions of little auks Alle alle across the Greenland Sea: Implications of present and future Arctic climate change. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 415:283–293

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Laidre KL, Heide-Jørgensen MP, Nielsen TG (2007) Role of the bowhead whale as a predator in West Greenland. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 346:285–297

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levinsen H, Nielsen TG, Hansen BW (2000) Annual Succession of marine protozoans in the arctic with emphasis on winter dynamics. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 206:119–134

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lotufo GR (1998) Lethal and sublethal toxicity of sediment-associated fluoranthene to benthic copepods: application of the critical-body-residue approach. Aquat Toxicol 44:17–30

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Madsen SD, Nielsen TG, Hansen BW (2001) Annual population development and production by Calanus finmarchicus, C. glacialis and C. hyperboreus in Disko Bay, western Greenland. Mar Biol 139:75–93

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Madsen SJ, Nielsen TG, Tervo OM, Söderkvist J (2008) Importance of feeding for egg production in Calanus finmarchicus and C. glacialis during the Arctic spring. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 353:177–190

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Niehoff B, Madsen SD, Hansen BW, Nielsen TG (2002) Reproductive cycles of three dominant Calanus species in Disko Bay, West Greenland. Mar Biol 140:567–576

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nielsen TG, Hansen BW (1995) Plankton community structure and carbon cycling on the western coast of Greenland during and after the sedimentation of a diatom bloom. Mar Ecol Prog Ser 125:239–257

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Parkinson CL, Cavalieri DJ (2008) Arctic sea ice variability and trends, 1979–2006. J Geophys Res 113:C07003

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Quinn GP, Keough MJ (2002) Experimental design and data analysis for biologists. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 573 p

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Scott CL, Kwasniewski S, Falk-Petersen S, Sargent JR (2000) Lipids and life strategies of Calanus finnmarchicus, Calanus glacialis and Calanus hyperboreus in late autumn, Kongsfjorden, Svalbard. Polar Biol 23:510–516

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Swalethorp R, Kjellerup S, Dünweber M, Nielsen TG, Møller EF, Rysgaard S, Hansen BW (2011) Grazing, production and biochemical evidence of differences in the life strategies of Calanus finmarchicus, C. glacialis and C. hyperboreus in Disko Bay, Western Greenland. Mar Ecol Prog Ser (in press)

Download references

Acknowledgments

This study was financed by the National Environmental Research Institute (NERI), Carlsberg Foundation, ECOGREEN and the Danish Natural Sciences Research Council. We would like to thank Arctic station in Qeqertarsuaq and the scientific leader Outi Tervo, University of Copenhagen, who provided us with excellent laboratory facilities and logistical support. At sea, RV Porsild and crew provided a great working platform.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Marine Ecology, National Environmental Research Institute, Aarhus University, Frederiksborgvej 399, 4000, Roskilde, Denmark

    Morten Hjorth

  2. National Institute of Aquatic Resources, Section of Oceanecology and Climate, Technical University of Denmark, Kavalergården 6, 2920, Charlottenlund, Denmark

    Torkel Gissel Nielsen

Authors
  1. Morten Hjorth
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Torkel Gissel Nielsen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Morten Hjorth.

Additional information

Communicated by S. A. Poulet.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Hjorth, M., Nielsen, T.G. Oil exposure in a warmer Arctic: potential impacts on key zooplankton species. Mar Biol 158, 1339–1347 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-011-1653-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-011-1653-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation