497
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
S. A. Murawski et al. (eds.), Deep Oil Spills,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11605-7_29
Chapter 29
Digging Deeper than LC/EC50:
Nontraditional Endpoints and Non-model
Species in Oil Spill Toxicology
Martin Grosell, Robert J. Griffitt, Tracy A. Sherwood, and Dana L. Wetzel
Abstract The response to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill lead to a
number of peer-reviewed publications examining the effects of the released oil and
dispersant on fish species found in the northern Gulf of Mexico (GoM). Many of
these papers, for very good reasons, focused on assessing toxicity by defining lethality through identification of dose-response curves that were specific to a given species, age class, exposure type, oil preparation method, and many other factors. Often
those dose-response curves were used to predict LC or EC50 concentrations –
amounts of oil that produced an effect on 50% of the exposed organisms. The
advantage of this approach is obvious, in that it provides a single point estimate and
variance of a concentration required to produce a given effect. This point estimate
can then be compared across different exposure regimes to compare susceptibilities.
Relevant LC/EC50 data is summarized and discussed in A synthesis of DWH oil,
chemical dispersant and chemically dispersed oil aquatic standard laboratory acute
and chronic toxicity studies (see Mitchelmore et al. A synthesis of Deepwater
Horizon oil, chemical dispersant and chemically dispersed oil aquatic standard laboratory acute and chronic toxicity studies (Chap. 28). In: Murawski SA, Ainsworth
C, Gilbert S, Hollander D, Paris CB, Schlüter M, Wetzel D (Eds.) Deep oil spills –
facts, fate and effects. Springer; 2020). By constraining toxicity to this point estimate (often of lethality), however, researchers run the risk of missing effects that
evince more subtle effects that do not manifest themselves as overt mortality in the
short term. In the present chapter, we focus exclusively on fish and explore some of
M. Grosell (*)
University of Miami, Department of Marine Biology and Ecology, Rosenstiel School of
Marine and Atmospheric Science, Miami, FL, USA
e-mail: mgrosell@rsmas.miami.edu
R. J. Griffitt
University of Southern Mississippi, Division of Coastal Sciences, School of Ocean Science
and Engineering, Ocean Springs, MS, USA
e-mail: Joe.Griffitt@usm.edu
T. A. Sherwood · D. L. Wetzel
Mote Marine Laboratory, Sarasota, FL, USA
e-mail: tsherwood@mote.org; dana@mote.org
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
S. A. Murawski et al. (eds.), Deep Oil Spills,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11605-7_29
Chapter 29
Digging Deeper than LC/EC50:
Nontraditional Endpoints and Non-model
Species in Oil Spill Toxicology
Martin Grosell, Robert J. Griffitt, Tracy A. Sherwood, and Dana L. Wetzel
Abstract The response to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill lead to a
number of peer-reviewed publications examining the effects of the released oil and
dispersant on fish species found in the northern Gulf of Mexico (GoM). Many of
these papers, for very good reasons, focused on assessing toxicity by defining lethality through identification of dose-response curves that were specific to a given species, age class, exposure type, oil preparation method, and many other factors. Often
those dose-response curves were used to predict LC or EC50 concentrations –
amounts of oil that produced an effect on 50% of the exposed organisms. The
advantage of this approach is obvious, in that it provides a single point estimate and
variance of a concentration required to produce a given effect. This point estimate
can then be compared across different exposure regimes to compare susceptibilities.
Relevant LC/EC50 data is summarized and discussed in A synthesis of DWH oil,
chemical dispersant and chemically dispersed oil aquatic standard laboratory acute
and chronic toxicity studies (see Mitchelmore et al. A synthesis of Deepwater
Horizon oil, chemical dispersant and chemically dispersed oil aquatic standard laboratory acute and chronic toxicity studies (Chap. 28). In: Murawski SA, Ainsworth
C, Gilbert S, Hollander D, Paris CB, Schlüter M, Wetzel D (Eds.) Deep oil spills –
facts, fate and effects. Springer; 2020). By constraining toxicity to this point estimate (often of lethality), however, researchers run the risk of missing effects that
evince more subtle effects that do not manifest themselves as overt mortality in the
short term. In the present chapter, we focus exclusively on fish and explore some of
M. Grosell (*)
University of Miami, Department of Marine Biology and Ecology, Rosenstiel School of
Marine and Atmospheric Science, Miami, FL, USA
e-mail: mgrosell@rsmas.miami.edu
R. J. Griffitt
University of Southern Mississippi, Division of Coastal Sciences, School of Ocean Science
and Engineering, Ocean Springs, MS, USA
e-mail: Joe.Griffitt@usm.edu
T. A. Sherwood · D. L. Wetzel
Mote Marine Laboratory, Sarasota, FL, USA
e-mail: tsherwood@mote.org; dana@mote.org