RAPID Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: Responses of Benthic Communities and Sedimentary Dynamics to Hydrocarbon Exposure in Coastal Ecosystems of the northern Gulf of Mexico

University Of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg MS

Investigators

Abstract

This is a RAPID award to respond to the Deep Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The work involves the time series collection of samples to examine the changes, from baseline conditions to maximum exposure, to the oil leaking out of the deepwater well head to a variety of coastal sites along the Northern Gulf of Mexico. Sampling sites include the intertidal zone at Belle Fontaine Point in eastern Mississippi and the New Harbor Islands in Louisiana. Samples and analytical work will determine hydrocarbon transformations and changes due to biogeochemical processes, changes in bioturbation rates, and changes in the assemblages of benthic macro- and meiofauna over time. Implications of these variables for physical and sedimentary processes and for macrofauna will be assessed. Broader impacts of the work will have immediate implications for understanding the impacts of the oil spill on coastal ecosystems and provide data to examine the time scale of ecosystem crash and recovery. The work will have potential for mitigating the long term effects of the oil spill on coastal systems. The work will also train students and provide public outreach activities that will be carried out in collaboration with the Northern Gulf Institution and with NOAA.