Hughes Stephanie N, Tozzi Sasha, Harris Linden, Harmsen Shawn, Young Colleen, Rask Jon, Toy-Choutka Sharon, Clark Kit, Cruickshank Marilyn, Fennie Hamilton, Kuo Julie, Trent Jonathan D
Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, Moss Landing, CA, USA ; CSS-Dynamac Inc., NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA.
University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA.
Aquat Biosyst. 2014 May 20;10:3. doi: 10.1186/2046-9063-10-3. eCollection 2014.
OMEGA is an integrated aquatic system to produce biofuels, treat and recycle wastewater, capture CO2, and expand aquaculture production. This system includes floating photobioreactors (PBRs) that will cover hundreds of hectares in marine bays. To assess the interactions of marine mammals and birds with PBRs, 9 × 1.3 m flat panel and 9.5 × 0.2 m tubular PBRs were deployed in a harbor and monitored day and night from October 10, 2011 to Janurary 22, 2012 using infrared video. To observe interactions with pinnipeds, two trained sea lions (Zalophus californianus) and one trained harbor seal (Phoca vitulina richardii) were observed and directed to interact with PBRs in tanks. To determine the forces required to puncture PBR plastic and the effects of weathering, Instron measurements were made with a sea otter (Enhydra lutris) tooth and bird beaks.
A total of 1,445 interactions of marine mammals and birds with PBRs were observed in the 2,424 hours of video recorded. The 95 marine mammal interactions, 94 by sea otters and one by a sea lion had average durations of three minutes (max 44 min) and represented about 1% of total recording time. The 1,350 bird interactions, primarily coots (Fulica americana) and gulls (Larus occidentalis and L. californicus) had average durations of six minutes (max. 170) and represented 5% of recording time. Interactive behaviors were characterized as passive (feeding, walking, resting, grooming, and social activity) or proactive (biting, pecking, investigating, and unspecified manipulating). Mammal interactions were predominantly proactive, whereas birds were passive. All interactions occurred primarily during the day. Ninety-six percent of otter interactions occurred in winter, whereas 73% of bird interactions in fall, correlating to their abundance in the harbor. Trained pinnipeds followed most commands to bite, drag, and haul-out onto PBRs, made no overt undirected interactions with the PBRs, but showed avoidance behavior to PBR tethers. Instron measurements indicated that sea-otter teeth and gull beaks can penetrate weathered plastic more easily than new plastic.
Otter and bird interactions with experimental PBRs were benign. Large-scale OMEGA systems are predicted to have both positive and negative environmental consequences.
OMEGA是一个综合水生系统，用于生产生物燃料、处理和循环利用废水、捕获二氧化碳以及扩大水产养殖产量。该系统包括漂浮式光生物反应器（PBR），这些反应器将覆盖海洋海湾中的数百公顷区域。为了评估海洋哺乳动物和鸟类与PBR之间的相互作用，于2011年10月10日至2012年1月22日在一个港口部署了9×1.3米的平板式和9.5×0.2米的管式PBR，并使用红外视频进行昼夜监测。为了观察与鳍足类动物的相互作用，观察了两只经过训练的海狮（加利福尼亚海狗）和一只经过训练的港海豹（里氏海豹），并引导它们在水箱中与PBR进行互动。为了确定刺穿PBR塑料所需的力以及风化的影响，使用海獭（海獭属）的牙齿和鸟喙进行了英斯特朗测试。
在记录的2424小时视频中，共观察到海洋哺乳动物和鸟类与PBR之间发生了1445次相互作用。95次海洋哺乳动物的相互作用中，94次是海獭，1次是海狮，平均持续时间为3分钟（最长44分钟），约占总记录时间的1%。1350次鸟类的相互作用，主要是白骨顶鸡（美洲白骨顶）和海鸥（西方鸥和加利福尼亚鸥），平均持续时间为6分钟（最长170分钟），占记录时间的5%。互动行为被分为被动行为（觅食、行走、休息、梳理毛发和社交活动）或主动行为（咬、啄、探究和未明确的操作）。哺乳动物的相互作用主要是主动行为，而鸟类则是被动行为。所有相互作用主要发生在白天。96%的海獭相互作用发生在冬季，而73%的鸟类相互作用发生在秋季，这与它们在港口的数量有关。经过训练的鳍足类动物大多听从指令去咬、拖拽并拖出到PBR上，没有与PBR进行明显的无指向性互动，但对PBR的系绳表现出回避行为。英斯特朗测试表明，海獭的牙齿和海鸥的喙比新塑料更容易穿透风化的塑料。
海獭和鸟类与实验性PBR的相互作用是良性的。预计大规模的OMEGA系统将产生积极和消极的环境后果。
