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Effects of Pollution on Marine Organisms

OR&R’s Dr. Alan Mearns, Courtney Arthur, and Nicolle Rutherford partnered with experts from California State University, EPA and industry to compose Effects of Pollution on Marine Organisms .


This paper reviews select 2013 articles focusing on the biological effects of pollutants and human physical disturbances on marine and estuarine plants, animals, ecosystems and habitats. The paper has a special emphasis on effects of oil spills and marine debris due in part to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil blowout and the 2010 Japanese tsunami.

This paper is open access content and was published in the Water Environment Research® (WER®) 2013 annual Literature Review; September 2014, ISSN 1061-4303. WER® publishes peer-reviewed research papers, research notes, state-of-the-art and critical reviews on original, fundamental and applied research in all scientific and technical areas related to water quality, pollution control, and management.

Read the full paper, Effects of Pollution on Marine Organisms .

For further information, contact Alan.Mearns@noaa.gov.

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Last updated Tuesday, November 8, 2022 1:49pm PST