Here, we have carried out such an experiment. Wild yellowlegged
gulls were experimentally fed with heavy fuel oil from the
Prestige oil spill and compared with control gulls fed only with
vehicle (i.e. vegetable oil). The study provided the opportunity
to compare the sub-lethal effects of a long-term exposure to toxic
compounds in the oil spill (i.e. Alonso-Alvarez et al., 2007) with
the effects induced by a short-term acute exposure in a vertebrate
species. The same biochemical parameters were analysed as in
the earlier correlational study (Alonso-Alvarez et al., 2007). In
addition, the total concentration of 15 PAHsfound in the Prestige