Impacts of Petroleum, Petroleum Components, and Dispersants on Organisms and Populations

Following the Deepwater Horizon blowout, oil, degraded oil mixed with dispersants, and management responses to spill affected a variety of Gulf Mexico organisms. This review provides examples various documented impacts, common patterns, trends across organisms and/or their environments, discusses future implications as well directions for research. Organism effects are generally characterized lethal sublethal. Sublethal can be short term, long or permanent multigenerational. We present individual on behavioral response, olfaction, vision, cardiac function, gene shift, based research done in laboratories, mesocosm settings, field. Future should emphasize collection analysis routine toxicological baselines examine how if molecular impacts cascade up populations. will require development rapid tools testing procedures determine exposure compared field-relevant levels able extrapolate laboratory results field, especially given mosaic differing contaminant concentrations (below, at, exceeding critical that result sublethal effects) occurring environment. Recent chemical studies have identified detectable suite polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon metabolites which there no toxicity data; further is needed food webs.