Assessment of Injury to River Otters in Prince William Sound, Alaska, Followingthe EXXON VALDEZ Oil Spill. Terrestrial Mammal Study Number 3. EXXON VALDEZ Oil Spill State/Federal Natural Resource Damage Assessment Final Report

摘要

River otters (Lutra canadensis) were killed by direct effects of the Exxon Valdezoil spill, but the magnitude of that loss is unknown due to lack of pre-spill data. A time lag in spill effects is reflected by the reduction in species richness and diversity in the summer diets of otters in oiled areas between 1989 and 1990. Otters from oiled areas had higher haptoglobin levels in both 1990 and 1991. Male otters captured in oiled areas in 1990 had significantly lower body mass than otters from nonoiled areas. Otters from oiled areas had home ranges that were twice as large as those from a non-spill area. Differences in rates of fecal deposition between oiled and nonoiled latrine sites in 1989 suggest otters used heavily oiled areas less often. Otters avoided shorelines with shallow slopes on the oiled area, whereas they strongly preferred these slopes on nonoiled sites, suggesting that otters lost habitat as a result of the spill.