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Ecological impact of the “Erika” oil spill: Determination of the geographic origin of the affected common guillemots

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 October 2004

Bernard Cadiou ,
Léa Riffaut ,
Karen D. McCoy ,
Jérôme Cabelguen ,
Matthieu Fortin ,
Guillaume Gélinaud ,
Alexandra Le Roch ,
Claire Tirard  and
Thierry Boulinier
Bernard Cadiou
Affiliation:
Bretagne Vivante - SEPNB (Société pour l'Étude et la Protection de la Nature en Bretagne), 186 rue Anatole France, BP 63121, 29231 Brest Cedex 3, France
Léa Riffaut
Affiliation:
Laboratoire d'Écologie, CNRS - UMR 7625, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 7 quai Saint Bernard, 75005 Paris, France
Karen D. McCoy
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada
Jérôme Cabelguen
Affiliation:
Bretagne Vivante - SEPNB, (Société pour l'Étude et la Protection de la Nature en Bretagne), Brouel Kerbihan, 56860 Séné, France
Matthieu Fortin
Affiliation:
Bretagne Vivante - SEPNB, (Société pour l'Étude et la Protection de la Nature en Bretagne), Brouel Kerbihan, 56860 Séné, France
Guillaume Gélinaud
Affiliation:
Bretagne Vivante - SEPNB, (Société pour l'Étude et la Protection de la Nature en Bretagne), Brouel Kerbihan, 56860 Séné, France
Alexandra Le Roch
Affiliation:
Bretagne Vivante - SEPNB, (Société pour l'Étude et la Protection de la Nature en Bretagne), Brouel Kerbihan, 56860 Séné, France
Claire Tirard
Affiliation:
Laboratoire de Parasitologie évolutive, CNRS - UMR 7103, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 7 quai Saint Bernard, 75005 Paris, France
Thierry Boulinier
Affiliation:
Laboratoire d'Écologie, CNRS - UMR 7625, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 7 quai Saint Bernard, 75005 Paris, France
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Abstract

Between 80 000 and 150 000 marine birds wintering in the Bay of Biscay were killed during the “Erika” oil spill. Three complementary studies were conducted to investigate the geographic origins of these birds. The common guillemot, Uria aalge, represented more than 80% of the oiled birds and these studies thus focused primarily on this species. Analyses of 184 ring recoveries and biometry of 1851 corpses indicated that guillemots originated from a large geographic area, including colonies from across the British Isles and the North Sea, along with more northern localities. However, the majority of individuals came from colonies located between western Scotland and the Celtic Sea. The third study, based on a population genetic approach using microsatellite markers (samples from dead oiled birds and from more than 600 birds caught in 19 breeding colonies), showed little genetic differentiation among north-eastern Atlantic guillemot colonies. This result limits the ability to identify the geographic origins of the birds using only DNA samples, but reveals a significant amount of gene flow among colonies. Overall, results indicate the large spatial scale of the oil spill's impact and underline the usefulness of combining multiple approaches to assess the local and regional effects of such accidents.

Keywords

Oil spillRing recoveriesBiometricsGeneticsSeabirdUria aalgeAtlantic Ocean
Type
Research Article
Information
Aquatic Living Resources , Volume 17 , Issue 3: The "Erika" Oil Spill: Environmental Contamination and Effects in the Bay of Biscay , July 2004 , pp. 369 - 377
Copyright
© EDP Sciences, IFREMER, IRD, 2004

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