1. Coral Bleaching By Nathalie Regalado Saskia Medina Cristina Lopez
Betty Angerville
Shannon Hahn

2. Effects of Oil Pollution on Corals

3. Background Information
Increase amount of oil pollution in the sea has resulted in ‘coral bleaching’ in which corals release the algae from their tissues. When coral reefs are exposed to oils it can be affected in many different ways. Oil can cause decrease in growth, decrease in reproduction and colonization capacity, negative effects on feeding and behavior, and alterations of secretory activity of mucous cells to the coral reefs.
IPIECA- International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association.

4. Hypothesis H1: Oil pollution will cause coral bleaching.
H2: Oil pollution will have no effect on corals.

5. The Problem of Mixing Oil and Water
Natural Dispersion: “Waves break up the oil slick, forming oil droplets that become suspended in the water. The majority of this oil droplets will flout back to the surface, but a small portion of tiny droplets with neutral buoyancy will remain dispersed in the water almost indefinitely”
Water-in-oil emulsification: “The mixing actions of waves can cause water droplets to be incorporated into the oil”.

6. Protocol
Exposure Time
Test 1 : Control
Test 2: 3 hours
Test 3: 48 hours
Test 4: Week
Oil concentrations in the tank suggested at 500g of oil (motor oil)/5000L which refers to a ration of 0.1g/L. Due to our 8 L tank, concentration will be 0.8g.

7. Experimental Control
The control group will be kept under the conditions as the experimental group, except exposure to oil.

8. Three ways of Monitoring Coral Stress:
-Measuring zooxanthellae Density
-Measuring Amount of Protein
-Measuring Amount of Chlorophyll

9. Measuring Amount of Protein
Last Week’s
Experiments
Measuring Amount of Protein

10. Procedure for Protein Measurement
Spectrophotometer
Blank: 100 µL of Distilled Water and 5 mL of Reagent.
Re-zero the machine
Five different concentration of protein
Total of 10 known samples
Two unknowns
Preparing Unknowns
Cut about 4 polyps and weigh them on the machine: g
Add 2 mL of seawater
Homogenize for 20 seconds
Add 100 µL of homogenized solution plus 5 mL of reagent
Vortex

11. Concentration (mg/ml)
Data
Absorbance
Concentration (mg/ml)
0.449
0.25
0.712
0.5
0.993
0.75
1.193 1
1.448
1.25

13. Results Average absorbance of two unknowns=0.454
Calculated concentration=0.665 mg/mL
Calculated amount of protein: 21.3 mg of protein/g of wet weight
Class average=12.7 mg of protein/g of wet weight
We are 8.6 above average

14. The End