Effects of Crude Oil Pollution in the Tropical Rainforest Biodiversity of Ecuadorian Amazon Region

Paper Details

Research Paper 01/02/2016
Views (382) Download (17)
current_issue_feature_image
publication_file

Effects of Crude Oil Pollution in the Tropical Rainforest Biodiversity of Ecuadorian Amazon Region

Bautista Hugo, Rahman K.M. Mijanur
J. Bio. Env. Sci.8( 2), 249-254, February 2016.
Certificate: JBES 2016 [Generate Certificate]

Abstract

The interconnectivity among the aquatic ecosystems of Ecuadorian Amazon makes them highly sensitive to broad range of anthropogenic activities like oil pollution. Ecuadorian Amazon biodiversity is in great threats because of the large scale oil pollution by the Chevron-Texaco which systematically dumped 18.5 billion gallons of highly carcinogenic toxic waste into unlined pits, swamps, streams, and rivers into the rainforest from 1964 to 1992. Vast number of ecologically important animals and plants populations is in great threats after this massive oil pollution. The spread of oil and its biological effects is documented immediately. Forest plants, river grasses, algae, and associated invertebrates were badly covered by oil and soon after they are died regularly. The death of Dolphins, Otter and several species of birds has been reported because of oil pollution. The secondary effects of oil pollution are always much greater than the primary effects. So, proper initiatives should be taken in the long run to protect the biological communities of Amazon.

VIEWS 33

Araya I and Peters H. 2002. Environmental Management Project: Oil Exploitation and Sustainable Development in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Petramaz project. Quito.Asanza , 1-10. (in Spanish)

Burnham, Robyn J, Johnson, Kirk R. 2004. South American palaeobotany and the origins of neotropical rainforests”. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society; 2004: 359(1450), 1595–1610.

Da Silva, Cardoso JM. 2005. “The Fate of the Amazonian Areas of Endemism”. Conservation Biology 19(3), 689–694.

Davidson EA. 2009. The potential ecological costs and co-benefits of REDD: a critical review and case study from the Amazon region. Global Change Biology 12, 2803-2824.

Gilbert TD. 2001. New Technologies to Assist Oil Spill Response in Australia. Proceedings of the 6th International Oil Spill Conference, Melbourne, 9-12.

Heintz RA, Short JW and Rice SD. 1999.Sensitivity of fish embryos to weathered crude oil. Part 2. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 18, 494-503.

Houghton JP, Gilmour RH. 2012. Prince William Sound intertidal biota, several years later: Has it recovered? In: Proceedings of the International Oil Spill Conference. Washington, DC: American Petroleum Institute. 679-685.

IUCN. 2015. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2015-4. Downloaded on 19 November 2015. http://www.iucnredlist.org

Kasai Y, Kishira H, Syutsubo K, Harayama S. 2001.Molecular detection of marine bacterial populations on beaches contaminated by the Nakhodka tanker oil-spill accident. Environmental Microbiology 3, 246-255.

Ko J, Day J. 2004. A review of ecological impacts of oil and gas development on coastal ecosystem in the Mississippi Delta, Ocean & Coastal Management 47, 597-623.

Maslin M, Malhi Y, Phillips O, Cowling S. 2005. “New views on an old forest: assessing the longevity, resilience and future of the Amazon rainforest”. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers 30(4), 477–499.

Mosbech A. 2002. Potential environmental impacts of oil spills in Greenland-An assessment of information status and research needs; National Environmental Research Institute ,Ministry of the Environment. Denmark, 33-40.

Pezeshki S, Hester M, Lin Q, Nyman J. 2000. The effects of oil spill and clean-up on dominant US Gulf Coast march macrophytes: a review, Environmental Pollution 108, 129-139.

Rice SD. 1985.Effects of Oil on Fish. in Engelhardt, F.R. (ed.): Petroleum Effects in the Arctic Environment. – Elsevier Applied Science Publishers, London New York, 157-182.

Rival L. 2010. Ecuador’s Yasuní-ITT Initiative: The old and new values of petroleum. Ecological Economics 70(2010). 358–365.

Serigstad B. 1992. The significance of physical properties of the sea for oil spill impacts. – Proc. Of Petro-physics II, 2nd int. conf. on fisheries and offshore petroleum exploitation, Bergen, Norway.