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Phytobenthos and phytoplankton community changes upon exposure to a sunflower oil spill in a South African protected freshwater wetland

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Abstract

The occurrence of a sunflower oil spill in 2007 in the Con Joubert Bird Sanctuary freshwater wetland, South Africa, inhibited the growth of sensitive phytoplankton species and promoted that of tolerant species. The algal divisions Chlorophyta and Euglenophyta were well represented in the sunflower oil contaminated water, especially the species Euglena sociabilis, Phacus pleuronectes and Chlamydomonas africana. Young and mature resting zygotes of Chlamydomonas africana were recorded in high abundance at all the sunflower oil contaminated sampling sites. The phytobenthos diversity and abundance were significantly suppressed and negatively associated with low Dissolved Oxygen concentrations and the negative redox potential of the bottom sediment. At the intracellular level, phytoplankton chlorophyll a and b concentrations as physiological variables were more sensitive indicators of the adverse effects of sunflower oil than the 72 h Selenastrum capricornutum algal bioassay conducted.

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Acknowledgments

The authors express their sincere gratitude to the National Research Foundation for provision of funding as well as to Ms JL Slabbert for her input. The authors also want to thank the unknown referees for critically reviewing the manuscript and suggesting useful changes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CSIR Natural Resources and the Environment, P.O. Box 395, Pretoria, 0001, South Africa

    Paul J. Oberholster

  2. Science and Technology Branch, Environment Canada, St Lawrence Centre, Montréal, QC, H2Y 2E7, Canada

    Christian Blaise

  3. Department of Genetics, University of Stellenbosch, Private Bag X1, Matieland, Stellenbosch, 7601, South Africa

    A.-M. Botha

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  1. Paul J. Oberholster
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  2. Christian Blaise
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  3. A.-M. Botha
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Correspondence to Paul J. Oberholster.

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Oberholster, P.J., Blaise, C. & Botha, AM. Phytobenthos and phytoplankton community changes upon exposure to a sunflower oil spill in a South African protected freshwater wetland. Ecotoxicology 19, 1426–1439 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10646-010-0528-6

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