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Impacts of the ‘Pacific Adventurer’ Oil Spill on the Macrobenthos of Subtropical Sandy Beaches

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Abstract

Biological impacts of oil on sandy shore ecosystems remain incompletely understood, especially following smaller spills on subtropical beaches. Here we quantified changes to benthic assemblages on a sandy beach following the 270-t spill of heavy fuel oil from the Pacific Adventurer that occurred in March 2009 off Moreton Island in Eastern Australia. Assessments of ecological impacts are based on spatial contrasts between multiple reference and impact sites sampled 1 week and 3 months after the spill. Benthic invertebrate assemblages exposed to oil had significantly fewer individuals of fewer species 1 week after the spill, markedly changing their ecological structure. Biological differences consistent with oil-related mortality were significant on the lower shore and in the swash and remained so 3 months after the spill. This signals a lack of recovery of these communities in the short term, despite the fairly rapid removal of oil. Results show that, despite the relatively small size of the spill, heavy fuel oil contamination can cause substantial impacts on sandy beach ecosystems, and that recovery may be prolonged.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Department of Environment and Resource Management (DERM) for providing funding for this study. None of the demanding field collections under ‘sticky’ and smelly conditions would have been possible without the help of the marine postgraduate corps at USC: a big ‘thank you’ to Tara Nielsen, Mahdi Green, Stewart Lloyd, Rudi de Jaeger and Luke Thompson. Peter Brooks and Michael Nielsen freely shared their expertise in hydrocarbon chemistry for the laboratory analyses.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Science, Health & Education, University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore, QLD, Australia

    Thomas Alfred Schlacher, Andrew Holzheimer & Tim Stevens

  2. Griffith School of Environment and Australian Rivers Institute - Coasts & Estuaries, Gold Coast Campus, Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia

    Tim Stevens

  3. Water Quality and Aquatic Ecosystem Health, Department of Environment and Resource Management, Brisbane, Australia

    David Rissik

  4. National Climate Change Adaptation Research Facility, Griffith University, Gold Coast, QLD, Australia

    David Rissik

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  1. Thomas Alfred Schlacher
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Correspondence to Thomas Alfred Schlacher.

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Schlacher, T.A., Holzheimer, A., Stevens, T. et al. Impacts of the ‘Pacific Adventurer’ Oil Spill on the Macrobenthos of Subtropical Sandy Beaches. Estuaries and Coasts 34, 937–949 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-010-9354-6

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