CROCLIST: Oil spills and crocs

[Adam Britton]

Hi Francisco,

There are several people working on biocontaminants in crocodilians, but why
not start by contacting Lou Guillette (ljg at zoo.ufl.edu) based at University
of Florida who's been working on trace elements in alligators and caimans
for years. Levels of contaminants in tissue can be measured using tissue
samples (either muscle or bone, depending on what you're looking at - scutes
are good for the former, osteoderms - or a section - for the latter).

Best wishes,

Adam

 

-----Original Message-----
From: croclist-bounces at lists.gatorhole.com
[mailto:croclist-bounces at lists.gatorhole.com] On Behalf Of Francisco
Villamarÿffffedn
Sent: Wednesday, 20 September 2006 1:22 AM
To: croclist at lists.gatorhole.com
Subject: CROCLIST: Oil spills and crocs

Dear list members,

Some weeks ago we had a big oil spill in one of the most important reserves
in Ecuadorian Amazonia, the Cuyabeno Reserve.
This is not something new though, in 1989 there was an even bigger oil spill
and we just found out that back then they removed the oil from the water but
buried it in the forest.
The Cuyabeno is the biggest reserve in Ecuador compossed by a lacustrine
system and permanently flooded forests (Varzea and Igapo), so the water
systems are inter connected and, even though authorities say that the
problem is being solved, we´re really worried about the consequences in the
food chain it could have.
I´ve been surveying the caiman populations in the reserve since 2004 and we
have a quite good knowledge about it. 
I´m writing a project to test the consequences of the oil spill on caiman
populations but I´d like to relate it with the food chain (analizing fish,
for example).
Does anybody know something about researches on these kinds of topics?? How
to test in search for heavy metals in blood, perhaps??. 
Any advice would be really appreciated.

Thanks in advance!
Francisco

Francisco Villamarín-Jurado
Escuela de Ciencias Biológicas
Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador

Pasaje Kodaly D-52 y Luis de Beethoven
Quito, Ecuador.


________________________________

Preguntá. Respondé. Descubrí.
Todo lo que querías saber, y lo que ni imaginabas,
está en Yahoo! Respuestas (Beta).
Probalo ya! <http://ar.answers.yahoo.com>