CORALLINE NEWS

Institute of Marine Sciences
University of Portsmouth Ferry Road
Portsmouth PO4 9LY UK
Telephone: +44 1962 779427
Email: Y.Chamberlain@btinternet.com

The Sea Empress oil spill in Wales, February 1996.

Y.M.Chamberlain

On 21 February 1996 the Sea Empress went aground off Haverfordwest in south-west Wales. Over the next twelve months I undertook a survey of the local crustose coralline algal populations to determine whether they had been damaged by pollution by oil and/or chemicals used for oil dispersal. By the end of a year all populations had recovered well after many had shown bleaching and shedding initially (Chamberlain 1997).

In the course of preparing the report I found it difficult to find references to the effect of oil spillages on coralline algae although the literature on oil pollution generally is very extensive. The following references were the most useful with respect to corallines:

Baker, J. M. 1971. Comparative toxicities of oils, oil fractions and emulsifiers. In: The Ecological Effects of Oil Pollution on Littoral Communities (Ed. E.B.Cowell): 78-87. Applied Science, Barking, Essex, England.

Bellamy, D.J., Clarke, P.H., John, D.M., Jones, D., Whittick, A. & Darke, T. 1967. Effects of pollution from the Torrey Canyon on littoral and sublittoral ecosystems. Nature, London 216: 1170-1172.

Bellamy, D.J. & Whittick, A. 1968. Problems in the assessment of the effects of pollution on inshore marine ecosystems dominated by attached macrophytes. Field Studies 2 (supplement): 49-54.

Boney, A.D. 1968. Experiments with some detergents and certain intertidal algae. Field Studies 2 (supplement): 55-72.

Bunker, F.St.P.D. 1997. Biotope studies on selected rocky shores of South Pembrokeshire following the Sea Empress Oil Spill. A report by Marine Seen to The Countryside Council for Wales.

Chamberlain, Y.M. 1997. Investigation of the condition of crustose coralline red algae in Pembrokeshire after the Sea Empress disaster 15-21 February 1997. A report to the Countryside Council for Wales, pp. 31.

Chassé, C. 1978. The ecological impact on and near shores by the Amoco Cadiz oil spill. Marine Pollution Bulletin 9: 298-301.

Clarke, R.B. 1992. Marine Pollution. 3rd edition. Clarendon Press, Oxford.

Colthart, B.J. & Johansen, H.W. 1973. Growth rates of Corallina officinalis (Rhodophyta) at different temperatures. Marine Biology 18: 46-49.

Colcomb, K., Bedborough, D., Lunel, T., Swannell, R., Wood, P., Rusin, J., Bailey, N., Halliwell, C., Davies, L., Sommerville, M., Dobie, A., Mitchell, D., McDonagh, M., Shimwell, S., Lee, K., Davies, B. & Harries, D. 1997. Shoreline cleanup and waste disposal issues during the Sea Empress incident. Proceedings of the 1997 International Oil Spill Conference. American Petroleum Institute Washington D.C.: 195-204.

Cremona, J. 1996. The black tide. Dale Fort. FSC Magazine 11: 8-9.

De Vogelaere, A.P. & Foster, M.S. 1994. Damage and recovery in intertidal Fucus gardineri assemblages following the ‘Exxon Valdez’ oil spill. Marine Ecology Progress Series 106: 263-271.

Crump, R. 1996. The black tide. Orielton. FSC Magazine 11: 6-7.

Foster, M., Neushul, M. & Zingmark, R. 1971. The Santa Barbara oil spill. Part 2: Initial effects on intertidal and kelp bed organisms. Environmental Pollution 2: 115-134.

George, M. 1961. Oil pollution of marine organisms. Nature, London. 192: 1209.

Gundlach, E.R., Boehm, P.D., Marchand, M., Atlas, R.M., Ward, D.M. & Wolfe, D.A. 1983. The Fate of Amoco Cadiz oil. Science 221: 122-129.

Harris, C. 1997. The Sea Empress incident: overview and response at sea. Proceedings of the 1997 International Oil Spill Conference. American Petroleum Institute Washington D.C.: 177-184.

Lobban, C.S. & Harrison, P.J. 1994. Seaweed Ecology and Physiology. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. pp..366.

Lunel, T., Rusin, J., Bailey, N., Halliwell, C. & Davies, L. 1997. The net environmental benefit of a successful dispersant operation at the Sea Empress incident. Proceedings of the 1997 International Oil Spill Conference. American Petroleum Institute Washington D.C.: 185-194.

Marine Pollution Control Unit (MCPU) 1996. The Sea Empress incident. Coastguard Agency, Southampton. pp 128.

Moore, J., Evans, S., Bullimore, B., Hodges, J., Crump, R., Cremona, J., Bunker, F., Rostron, D., Little, A., Chamberlain, Y., Dyrynda., P. & Worley, A. 1997. Sea Empress spill: impacts on marine and coastal habitats. Proceedings of the 1997 International Oil Spill Conference. American Petroleum Institute Washington D.C.:213-216.

Mullett, J.A.J. 1982. KSIM Cross Impact Analysis in the Planning of Marine Pollution Control and the Effects of Oil Dispersants on Marine Algae. PhD Thesis, University of Liverpool.

Nelson-Smith, A. 1968a. The effects of oil pollution and emulsifier cleansing on shore life in south-west Britain. Applied Ecology 5: 97-107.

Nelson-Smith, A. 1968b. Biological consequences of oil pollution and shore cleansing. Field Studies 2 (supplement): 73-80.

Nelson-Smith, A. 1972. Oil pollution and Marine Ecology. Elek Science, London. pp. 260.

North, W.J., Neushul, M. Jr & Clendenning, K.A. 1965. Successive biological changes observed in a marine cove exposed to a large spillage of mineral oil. Symposium sur les Pollutions Marines par les Microorganismes et les Produits Pétroliers, Monaco 1964: 335-354.

O’Brien, P.Y. & Dixon, P.S. 1976. The effects of oils and oil components on algae: a review. British Phycological Journal 11:115-142.

O’Sullivan, A.J. & Richardson, A.J. 1967. The Torrey Canyon disaster and intertidal marine life. Nature, London 214: 448 & 541-542.

Ranwell, D.S. 1968. Extent of damage to coastal habitats due to the Torrey Canyon incident. Field Studies 2 (supplement): 39-47.

Salter, E. 1996. An accident waiting to happen. Marine Conservation 3(8): 8-11.

Smith, J.E. (ed.) 1968. "Torrey Canyon" pollution and marine life. Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. pp. 196.

Spooner, M.F. 1967. Biological effects of the Torrey Canyon disaster. Journal of the Devon Trust for Nature Conservation. 1967 (July - supplement): 12-19.

Valero, M. 1997. Gracilaria gracilis, an example of marine algae population genetics. Séminar Internationale Dynamique d’Espèces Marines Invasives: Application à l’Expansion de Caulerpa taxifolia. Acadèmie des Sciences, Paris. Abstracts pp. 7-8.

Lithophyllum racemus (Lamarck) Foslie is considered a Mediterranean endemic (Bressan, 1974; Bressan & Babbini Benussi, 1995). As with many other Mediterranean corallines, its description was inadequate, and based mainly on data given by Lemoine (1915) Hamel & Lemoine (1953) and Bressan (1974). As part of a wider study concerning the comparison of fossil and living corallinaceans, I studied several thalli of freshly collected L. racemus from the Tyrrhenian Sea corallinaceans from the western and southern coasts of Italy. The collected data clarified the varability of the natural population, providing an actualistic tool for delimiting fossil species and for assessing their response to paleoenvironments by analogy with the present.

Since Lamarck’s specimens on which Millepora racemus is based must be considered lost (F. Ardré, pers. comm., 1994; 1995), and with the aim of improving nomenclatural stability, L. racemus has been neotypified (Basso et al., 1996). Thalli mostly grow unattached, as globular rhodoliths with a long axis ranging from few millimeters to several centimeters. The most common morphology is characterised by several short branches developing from a nucleus; branches are densely spaced and apically swollen. The blunt apices typically fit in the space left by the surrounding branches. This feature is due to adaptation to disturbance from water motion, since abrasion causes broadening of branch tips while leaving the sides unaffected (Steneck, 1986). Actually L. racemus typically occurs in coarse sediments, subject to bottom currents (Biocoenosis of "Coarse sands and fine gravels under the influence of bottom currents"; Peres and Picard, 1964).

The improved knowledge of the anatomy of L. racemus (asexual and sexual plants) allowed comparison with some tertiary Lithophylloideae which frequently occur together with L. racemus which they superficially resemble.

Because the sexual phases of fossil corallines are difficult to recognise, paleontological literature has historically dealt with sexual plants as separate taxa. In particular, Lithophyllum viennotii Lemoine (1929) and Lithophyllum microsporum Maslov (1962) seemed to be very close to the asexual and sexual plants of L. racemus, respectively. The original material of L. viennotii is lost (Braga & Aguirre, 1995). L. viennotii and L. microsporum have recently been subsumed in L. incrustans, the type species of Lithophyllum (Braga & Aguirre, 1995). The fossil material collected in the Neogene of southern Spain is characterised by the absence or poor definition of lateral cell alignment, a thick, protruberant thallus, and unusual cell length in the central part of protuberances. None of these characters is present in L. incrustans, a species which lacks branches (Woelkerling, 1983). I was able to examine the type material of L. microsporum Maslov (1962). On the basis of comparing external appearance and vegetative and reproductive anatomical features, L. viennotii and L. microsporum prove to be conspecific with L. racemus. L. viennotii and L. microsporum therefore become heterotypic synonyms of L. racemus, which acquires a stratigraphic range from Aquitanian to Recent.

In addition to fossil taxa, a living species showing very close relationship with L. racemus was erected by Woelkerling (1983) on the basis of the original collection of "Lithothamnium crassum Philippi". Study of the lectotype specimen, collected in the Mediterranean, resulted in the transfer of "L. crassum Philippi" into Lithophyllum duckeri. After comparison, Lithophyllum duckeri must also be considered an heterotypic synonym of L. racemus. L. duckeri has been recorded (originally as L. racemus f. crassa) at Falmouth (Cornwall) (Irvine & Chamberlain, 1994). If this single record is confirmed, L. racemus must be regarded as having an Atlantic-Mediterranean distribution.

Nomenclatural synonym: Pseudolithophyllum racemus (Lamarck) Mendoza & Cabioch 1984

Basso D., Fravega P. & Vannucci G. 1996. Fossil and living corallinaceans related to the Mediterranean endemic species Lithophyllum racemus (Lamarck) Foslie. Facies, 35; 275-292.

Braga J.C. & Aguirre J. 1995. Taxonomy of fossil coralline algal species: Neogene Lithophylloideae (Rhodophyta, Corallinaceae) from Southern Spain. Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 86: 265-285.

Bressan G. 1974. Rodoficee calcaree dei mari italiani. Boll. Soc. Adriat. Sci. Nat., 59, 1-132.

Bressan, G. & Babbini-Benussi, L. 1996. Chorological observations on endemic Mediterranean coralline algae. Rendiconti Fisiche Accademia Lincei Series 9, 7: 303-313.

Hamel G & Lemoine M. 1953. Corallinacées de France et d’Afrique du Nord. Arch. Mus. Nat. Hist. Nat, 7 ser., 1:17-136.

Irvine L. M. & Chamberlain Y.M. 1994 Seaweeds of the British Isles. Vol 1 Rhodophyta, part 2B Corallinales, Hildenbrandiales, HMSO, 276 pp.

Lemoine M. 1915. Calcareous algae. Rep. Dan. Oceanogr. Exped. 1908-1910 to the Mediterranean and adjacent Seas. 2 Biology: 1-32..

Maslov V.P. 1962. Fossil red algae of USSR and their relationships with the facies. USSR Academy of Sciences, Trudieri Geol. Inst., 53, 1-222 (in Russian).

Pérès J.M. & Picard J. 1964. Nouveau manuel de bionomie benthique de la Mer Mediterranée. Recl. Trav. Stn. Mar. Endoume, 31/47: 1-137.

Steneck R.S. 1986. The ecology of coralline algal crusts: convergent patterns and adaptive strategies. Ann. Rev. Ecol. Syst, 17: 273-303.

Woelkerling W.J. 1983. A taxonomic reassessment of Lithothamnium (Corallinaceae, Rhodophyta) based on studies of R.A Philippi’s original collections. Br. Phycol. J, 18:165-197.

6th International Phycological Congress, Leiden 9-16 August 1997

The following abstracts are published in Phycologia 36, no. 4, Supplement 1997:

Bolton, J.J., Stegenga, H. & Anderson, R.A. Seaweeds of the South African west coast: a biogeographic analysis. pp. 9-10

Fazackerley, H. & Guiry, M.D. Growth rates of three maërl species from a population at Kingstown Bay, Connemara, Ireland. p.30

Gao, K. Calcification of coralline algae: carbonate content, calcification rate and effects of elevated CO₂. pp.33-34

Keats, D.W. & Chamberlain, Y.M. Problems of generic delimitation in the coralline algal subfamily Melobesioideae. p.48

Kim, J.H., Choi, D-S. & Lee. I-K. A taxonomic study of Haliptilon (Corallinales, Rhodophyta) in Korea. p.51

Morcom, N. Competition and coexistence in epiphytic nongeniculate coralline algae.pp.73-74

Payri, C., Stephane, M. & Bizeau, C. Photoadaptation in Hydrolithon onkodes in a French Polynesia reef. pp.84-85

Riosmena-Rodriguez, R. A taxonomic reassessment of rhodolith-forming species of Lithophyllum in the Gulf of California, Mexico. p.93

Wegeberg, S. Danish species of corallines (Corallinaceae, Rhodophyta) and distribution in relation to salinity. p.122

Woelkerling. Wm J. Southern Australian coralline biodiversity: 1976 vs 1996 with implications for generating a world biodiversity database. p.124

Editor: Dr. Y.M. Chamberlain