Accidental oil discharges pose acute and chronic risks on coral communities, but knowledge on the ecological long-term implications is fragmentary. Here, we examine the potential short-, mid-, and long-term effects of a major oil spill on subtidal reef communities over a 30-year period using a multicontrol before-after-control-impact (BACI) approach. In April 1986, 8000 t (~ 9.3 10⁶ L) of crude oil were released from a refinery in Bahia Las Minas (Caribbean Panama) contaminating an area of about 40 km² consisting of intertidal and subtidal mangrove, seagrass, sandy, and coral reef habitats. Surveys of oiled and unpolluted control sites have been conducted at different times between 1985 and 2017 and changes in community metrics (i.e., percent live cover, diversity, community composition, and recruitment) were compared with pre-spill data. The main focus was on scleractinian corals, but impacts on other major benthic taxa were also considered. Short-term oil effects on scleractinian corals included substantial declines in live cover, and diversity as well as changes in community structure being detectable up to 4 years after the spill, while other benthic taxa were hardly affected. Branching corals, such as Acropora palmata, seemed to suffer more, but strong incident-related declines could also be seen in two massive species (i.e., Pseudodiploria clivosa and Porites astreoides). Recruitment rates were not significantly different relative to oil exposure, but number of recruits showed strong temporal variation both at the oiled and control sites. While short-term effects (1 year post-spill) could be unequivocally linked to the spill, assessment of mid-term impacts was complicated by cumulative, albeit different stressors (diseases, bleaching, warming, additional accidental oil discharges) that have been driving changes at oiled and control sites respectively and thus ultimately concealing any effects of the spill. Our data did not provide evidence of a long-term (> 10 years) chronic impact of the oil spill, but instead showed that a variety of factors have contributed to reef degradation both at oiled and control sites over the survey period.

中文翻译：

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评估灾难性溢油对巴拿马加勒比海沿岸潮下珊瑚礁社区的长期影响（1985-2017年）

偶然的石油排放对珊瑚群落构成了急性和慢性风险，但对生态长期影响的认识是零碎的。在这里，我们使用控制后影响后多重控制（BACI）方法，研究了30年内重大溢油对潮间带礁社区的潜在短期，中期和长期影响。1986年4月， 从巴伊亚州拉斯米纳斯（巴拿马）的一家精炼厂释放了8000吨（〜9.3 10 ⁶ L）原油，污染了约40 km ²由潮间带和潮间带的红树林，海草，沙滩和珊瑚礁栖息地组成。在1985年至2017年之间的不同时间进行了上油和未污染的控制点的调查，并将社区指标的变化（即活体覆盖率，多样性，社区组成和招募百分比）与溢出前的数据进行了比较。主要重点是巩膜珊瑚，但也考虑了对其他主要底栖生物群的影响。溢油对巩膜珊瑚的短期影响包括活体覆盖率大幅下降，溢油事故发生后长达4年的多样性和群落结构变化，而其他底栖生物几乎没有受到影响。分支珊瑚，例如鹿角rop，似乎遭受了更大的损失，但是在两个大型物种（即假双壳线虫和Porites astreoides）中也可以看到与事件相关的强烈下降）。相对于油脂暴露，招聘率没有显着差异，但是新兵人数在上油地点和控制地点均表现出强烈的时间变化。虽然短期影响（溢漏后一年）可以明确地与溢漏联系在一起，但对中期影响的评估却由于累积的驱动因素（疾病，漂白，变暖，额外的意外溢油）而变得复杂，尽管累积压力很大分别在加油处和控制处进行更改，从而最终掩盖了泄漏的任何影响。我们的数据没有提供溢油对长期（> 10年）慢性影响的证据，而是显示在调查期内，在加油和控制地点的各种因素导致礁石退化。