Demography will be examined by comparing population densities and parameters affecting population growth rates between oiled and unoiled sites. The rate of recovery of nearshore vertebrate predators may be constrained by oil- related factors (continued toxicity of oil and food availability) as well as non-oil related processes. The latter include death and birth processes as affected by factors such as intrinsic reproductive capacity and mortality due to adverse weather conditions. It may be, for example, that death and birth rates do not differ among injured and non-injured subpopulations of nearshore vertebrate predators, but that the rate of population increase is too slow to have allowed for complete recovery of the injured nearshore vertebrate predator populations., in the absence of continued effects of oil. In other words, the nearshore vertebrate predator populations may not be fully recovered, but may be recovering as quickly as possible under naturally-occurring conditions.
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Continued Hydrocarbon Exposure
Food Availability
NVP
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Last Reviewed: March 26, 2003