Las aves marinas como bioindicadores de la recuperación del ecosistema costero tras el accidente del prestige
- Autores: Mª del Rocío Moreno Carrillo
- Directores de la Tesis: Carola Sanpera Trigueros (dir. tes.), Lluis Jover Armengol (codir. tes.)
- Lectura: En la Universitat de Barcelona ( España ) en 2011
- Idioma: español
- Tribunal Calificador de la Tesis: Lluís Cardona Pascual (presid.), José Manuel Arcos Pros (secret.), Steve Votier (voc.)
- Materias:
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- Resumen
The major objectives of this thesis were (1) to gain insights into long-term alterations in food web dynamics of the coastal ecosystem affected by the Prestige oil spill (November 2002) and (2) to provide evidence of the persistence of oil pollution effects in the Galician marine environment. For this purpose, we chose the European shag and the yellow-legged gull breeding at the affected area as sentinel species and we monitored temporal changes in their feeding ecology and heavy metal contamination. To do that, we combined the use of conventional dietary methods with the analysis of stable isotopes (¿13C, ¿15N and ¿34S) and heavy metals (Hg, Cu, Pb, Zn, Cr, V and Ni).
In order to achieve the two main goals just mentioned, the specific aims of this thesis were: i. To examine the potential of different tissues of shag carcasses collected during the Prestige accident as information source of inorganic pollution and trophic ecology (Chapter 2 & 3).
ii. To evaluate the usefulness of stable isotope and Hg analysis of chick feathers for characterizing their feeding ecology and understand other external factors besides diet that may drive isotopic and Hg variability in the study area (Chapter 4 & 5).
iii. To compare pre-spill data obtained from carcass feathers with post-spill data obtained from chick feathers sampled from 2003 to 2009 to assess the long-term impact of the Prestige oil spill on food web dynamics and heavy metal pollution (Chapter 6 & 7).
Although most short-term studies published until today indicate a strong initial impact during the first year after the spill with recovery by 2004, yellow-legged gulls and European shags indicated changes in the food web structure and chronic oil pollution in the affected area for at least three years after the Prestige oil spill. Our results highlighted that although high-energy environments such as the one under study reduce changes on trapping oil and accumulating hydrocarbon pollutants and thus, decrease the likehood of long-term impact, recovery may take longer than reported in precedent studies.
