You are currently viewing the summary.
View Full TextLog in to view the full text
AAAS login provides access to Science for AAAS members, and access to other journals in the Science family to users who have purchased individual subscriptions.
More options
Download and print this article for your personal scholarly, research, and educational use.
Buy a single issue of Science for just $15 USD.
Summary
Thousands of tons of crude oil residue began to wash up on Brazil's northeast seaboard in late August, contaminating hundreds of beaches, estuaries, reefs, and mangroves along a 2500-kilometer stretch of shoreline. Now, the first small blobs of oil have arrived at the largest biodiversity hot spot in the southern Atlantic Ocean, the Abrolhos Bank, which shelters almost 9000 square kilometers of reefs along the central part of the Brazilian coastline and is home to several iconic species. Brazilian Federal Police believe the spill came from the Bouboulina, a Greek tanker that passed Brazil in late July. That is consistent with computer simulations based on the distribution of the oil along the coast.
