Research in the Gulf of Mexico on the effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill

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Research in the Gulf of Mexico on the effects of
the Deepwater Horizon oil spill

• Margo Moss
• Environmental Analyst
• Tierra Resources
• P 504-319-1575
• E margomoss_at_tierraresourcesllc.com

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Background

• Team This project is a partnership between
  Tulane University Center for Public Service, the
  Gulf Restoration Network Tierra Resources LLC.
  Our team includes Dr. Jordan Karubian (PI), Dr.
  Sarah Mack, Dr. Susan Longest, and Margo Moss
• Mission To complete an analysis of fragmented
  research, coordinated between the academic
  community and the GRN that will identify
  potentially sensitive Gulf species and identify
  gaps and needs in current research activities.
  We will provide recommendations based on areas in
  need of additional attention, thereby ensuring
  effective use of funds and effort in the future.
• Timeline Currently in progress, the final
  findings will be published for the 1 year
  anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill,
  on April, 20th 2011. Todays proceedings
  represent an overview of work completed to date,
  as well as future direction and obstacles.

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Outline

• Areas effected by the spill
• General concerns and toxic effects of oil
  contamination
• Why is studying oil impacts important?
• Research types
• Selected environmental themes
• Future direction
• Obstacles
• Parting thoughts and discussion
• Questions

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Extant Extent of oil
Oil Spill Landfall, New York Times http//www.nyti
mes.com/interactive/2010/05/27/us/20100527-oil-lan
dfall.html

• 4.9 million barrels crude oil released
• Oil removed from the Gulf was recovered, skimmed,
  burned, naturally dispersed, evaporated,
  dissolved by bacteria or chemically dispersed
• As of August, the government estimates 1,253,839
  barrels of oil remain in the Gulf
• Surface oil, subsurface oil oil mixed with
  sediment

NOAA Deepwater Horizon MC252 Gulf Incident Oil
Budget. http//www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2010/P
DFs/DeepwaterHorizonOilBudget20100801.pdf
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Oil Impacts on Wildlife
Acute Chronic
Direct PAHs can cause direct toxicity (mortality) to marine mammals, fish, and aquatic invertebrates through smothering and other physical and chemical mechanisms. Immediate toxicity via physical contact, ingestion, absorption and inhalation Juvenile and larval stages most susceptible Reduced recruitment Sublethal amounts lead to a trade off between functions related to exposure response (e.g., cleaning and damaged tissue regeneration) and normal energy expenditures (e.g., growth and reproduction). Sublethal effects such as DNA damage, liver disease, cancer, and reproductive, developmental, and immune system impairment in fish and other organisms PAHs can accumulate in invertebrates, which may be unable to efficiently metabolize the compounds. Stress response Histological, biochemical, behavioral, reproductive, and developmental effects Habitat degradation
Indirect Contaminated food source PAHs can be passed to higher trophic levels, such as fish and marine mammals, when they consume prey. Reduced food sources for consumers Trophic cascades (change in number or behavior of interconnected organisms) Contaminated food source PAHs can be passed to higher trophic levels, such as fish and marine mammals, when they consume prey. Reduced food sources for consumers Trophic cascades can lead to reduced consumer fitness Habitat degradation
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Marine Habitat Types in the Gulf of Mexico
http//sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/hcd/pdfs/efhdocs/gom_efh
hapc_poster.pdf
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Coastal Bird Habitat
http//gomex.erma.noaa.gov/erma.htmlx90.35156y
28.05259z6layers395417372384484
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Why bother?

• Impacts from the Exxon Valdez spill are still
  being seen 20 years after the event
• Residual population level impacts
• Important to have comprehensive independent
  research to collaborate or contradict BP claims
• Gulf of Mexico has many ecologically and
  economically important species
• Several of which are endangered
• We dont have a good understanding of how the
  spill will impact population dynamics
• Unless we can gain a holistic understanding of
  the effects, we will be unable to mitigate
  negative consequences
• This could occur because of poor recruitment and
  fishing pressure (shrimp, blue crabs, finfish)
• Or inability to determine causes of population
  declines (Sea turtles, coastal birds)

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Research Types

• Activity

• Environmental Themes

• Coastal nearshore habitats
• Offshore habitats
• Dispersants
• Toxicology
• Impact on life stages of aquatic animals
• Ecosystem and community structure
• Restoration
• Trophic dynamics and food webs
• Ecosystem health indicators
• Oil spill modeling tracking
• Seafood safety
• Human health

• Research
• Restoration
• Monitoring

Please note the research presented here
characterizes findings to date and does not
represent a complete listing
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Coastal Nearshore Habitats

• The Gulf of Mexico coastal areas have more than
  half of the coastal wetlands within the lower 48
  states
• The effect of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on
  coastal erosion will be determined by how much
  oil reaches these habitats, and how long it stays
  there. A lot of oil resting on vegetated coastal
  shorelines could cause the vegetation to become
  stressed and die this could cause the roots to
  die, weakening marsh soils. Weakened marsh soils
  would then be at risk of accelerated erosion from
  waves and storms.
• Many species rely on coastal environments at some
  point in their life cycle, many of which are at
  risk.
• Although coastal areas are vital for fish species
  and protection of human life and property ashore,
  the Gulf of Mexico has been losing coastal land
  at a very high rate over the last 50 years.

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Coastal Nearshore Habitats

• Economically important species

• Endangered and threatened species

• Shrimp
• In particular brown shrimp postlarvae which will
  be migrating out of inshore waters from February
  to April, while white shrimp will begin migration
  in May and continue through November. The spill
  could have impacts not only on shrimp catches
  this year, but also next year if postlarvae
  mortality is high.
• Blue crab
• The most economically valuable crab species in
  the region occurs almost exclusively in state
  waters with peak spawning occurring in
  August-September. Eggs and larvae develop and
  settle in the estuaries until crabs reach
  harvestable size in April-May. Also a preferred
  food of the endangered Atlantic Ridley sea turtle
• Oysters
• Fisheries
• 97 (by weight) of the commercial fish and
  shellfish landings from the Gulf of Mexico are
  species that depend on estuaries and their
  wetlands. Many fish species rely on coastal and
  nearshore habitats as nurseries.

• Loggerhead sea turtle, green sea turtle, Kemps
  ridey sea turtle, Hawksbill seaturtle
• Smalltooth sawfish, Gulf sturgeon
• Elkhorn coral, staghorn coral
• Brown pelican
• Sand tiger shark (species of concern)
• Nassau grouper (species of concern)
• Alambama shad (species of concern)
• Largetooth sawfish (species of concern)
• Saltmarsh topminnow (species of concern)
• Opossum pipefish (species of concern)

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Coastal Nearshore Habitat Research

• Fate and transport of oil
• Critical fish nursery habitats
• Sedimentary biogeochemical cycles especially
  nitrogen
• Microbial community structure
• Pelagic food web
• Effects of oil, dispersant methane on food webs
• Ecosystem structure
• Coastal ecosystems
• Carbon services modeling
• Monitoring
• Water quality
• Movement and recruitment of fish
• Microbial degradation
• Blue crab recruitment
• Baseline fishes, crabs and shrimps
• Marsh fish in at risk habitats
• Critical fish nursery habitats
• Combined effects with hypoxia in the Gulf
• Hurricanes

• Stressors on wetlands
• Manatee monitoring and distribution
• Manatee habitat and food supply
• The effects of species diversity, consumer
  pressure, and bioremediation on salt marsh
  recovery from oil
• Ecosystem structure and function in AL waters
• Composition of Dissolved organic matter in LA
  salt marshes
• Oyster reefs
• Bird populations in MI coastal marshes
• Bottlenose dolphin populations in west FL
• Florida coastal everglades
• Wetlands research and monitoring
• Baseline plankton assessment within seagrass beds
  of the Grand Bay National Estuarine Research
  Reserve
• Fish communities

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Offshore Habitats

• Endangered and threatened species

• Research

• Fishes, crabs and shrimp
• Meiofauna, small benthic invertebrates
• Offshore microbial communities
• Macroalgae and macrocrustaceans
• Water and sediment toxicity
• Coastal food webs
• Marine snow and sedimentation
• Benthic organisms and
• Deepwater fish assemblages
• Deep sea coral and deep reef habitats
• Oil exposure on genetic mechanisms of fish
  development
• Subsea plumes
• Tracking and modeling oil extent and transport
• Movement and recruitment of fish

• Leatherback sea turtle
• Sperm whales
• Dusky sharks (species of concern)
• Night sharks (species of concern)
• Warswa grouper (species of concern)
• Speckled hind (species of concern)
• Bluefin Tuna

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Dispersants

• Two EPA approved dispersants, Corexit 9500 and
  9527A, have been used extensively in the Gulf
• Dispersants are used in the Gulf to break down
  crude oil slicks
• The toxic effects of dispersants vary greatly
  depending on type of dispersant, method of
  application, mixture with oil, duration of
  exposure, type of organism and other variables
• While dispersants are relatively nontoxic alone,
  mixing with a toxic substance can make that
  substance more bioavailable

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Dispersants Research

• Shelf-edge habitats engineered by fishery species
• Transport, fate and impacts
• Data sampling and modeling
• In-situ tracking and aging in seawater
• Oil emulsions
• Integrated assessment
• Satellite monitoring
• Habitats and fisheries
• Oil plum modeling
• Diversity of macroalgae and macrocrustaceans
  inhabiting deepwater hard banks

• Impact and ecosystem assessment
• Photodegredation of dispersants
• Acute toxicity to various Gulf killfish life
  stages
• Effect on juvenile blue crabs
• Effect on blue crab spawning recruitment
• Impact on pelagic food web structure and organic
  matter cycling (AL)
• Effect on ecosystem structure and function (AL)
• Impact on coastal environments (LA)
• Impact on coastal and marine Gulf ecosystems

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Toxicology Research

• Effect on marsh fish in at-risk habitats
• Acute toxicity of anionic surfactant dioctyl
  sodium sulfosuccinate to various Gulf killfish
  life stages
• Baseline assessment of estuarine
  macroinvertebrates within Grand Bay National
  Estuarine Research Reserve
• Diversity of macroalgae and macrocrustaceans
  inhabiting deepwater hard banks
• Water and sediment toxicity assessment
• Effect on nursery role of coastal marshes

• Impact and ecosystem assessment
• Effects of remediation on oil spill
  bioaccumulation, disposition, toxicity and gene
  expression in developing fish
• Immunological assessment of fish in the Gulf
• Oiled sea turtle rehabilitation
• Species diversity, consumer pressure, and
  bioremediation on salt marsh recovery
• Effect of dispersants on juvenile blue crabs
• Effect on blue crab spawning recruitment

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Impact on Life Stages of Aquatic Animals Research

• National Estuarine Research Reserve
• Baseline assessment of sediment and benthic
  communities within Grand Bay National Estuarine
  Research Reserve
• Fish communities of nearshore habitats within
  Grand Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve
• Effect on marsh fish in at-risk habitats
• Modeling impacts on West Florida Shelf fisheries
• Reef fish community structure and dynamics (FL)
• Deepwater water assemblages associated with
  DeSoto Canyon
• Sampling of fishes (adults, juveniles, larvae)
  ichthyoplankton, zooplankton and water quality in
  Mobile-Tensaw Delta
• Diversity of macroalgae and macrocrustaceans
  inhabiting deepwater hard banks
• Deepsea coral and deep reef habitats
• Crude oil exposure on genetic mechanisms of fish
  development

• Immunological assessment of fish
• Manatee aerial monitoring
• Manatee distribution (AL MI)
• Manatee habitat and food supply
• Mapping and modeling to quantify hypoxia and oil
  effects on living resources
• Coastal sport fish studies (MI)
• Ecosystem structure and function in marine waters
  (AL)
• Acute toxicity of anionic surfactant dioctyl
  sodium sulfosuccinate to various Gulf killfish
  life stages
• Effect of dispersants on juvenile blue crabs
• Effect on blue crab spawning recruitment
• Diamondback terrapin nesting beach survey (MI)
• Baseline assessment of estuarine
  macroinvertebrates within Grand Bay National
  Estuarine Research Reserve
• Baseline assessment of plankton and seagrass beds
  within Grand Bay

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Ecosystem Health Indicators

• Ecosystem indicator is an organism or community
  of organisms that is used to assess the health of
  an ecosystem as a whole.
• Monitoring the health of a limited study system,
  indicative of the health of the whole system, is
  useful when considering complex ecosystems.
• Ecosystem health is the symptoms of an
  ecosystem's pending loss of carrying capacity,
  its ability to perform nature's services, or a
  pending ecocide, due to cumulative causes such as
  pollution

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Ecosystem Health Indicators Research

• National Estuarine Research Reserve
• Impacts on estuarine bottlenose dolphin
  population (FL)
• Effects on metal and nutrient distributions
• Relationship between bioturbation rates, infaunal
  abundance and oil distribution and degradation
• Satellite monitoring
• Framework to assist coordination of research in
  multiple levels of coastal ecosystems
• Surveys and photomonitoring
• Long term water quality assessment
• 4-D remote sensing system
• Effect on fish movement and recruitment
• Monitoring processes, habitats, and fisheries in
  the Pontchartrain Basin
• Plume modeling for environmental impact
  assessment and mitigation
• Characterization of subsurface oil on the Gordon
  Gunter
• Biodegradation of oil and passive remediation
  strategies
• Associated chemical effects
• Microbial community structure and function

• Effects on oyster resources
• Effects on critical habitat, oyster reefs and
  associated species (FL)
• Submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) surveys and
  sampling
• Tracing intrusion on coastal foodwebs with
  natural abundance radiocarbon (14C)
• Modeling carbon services
• Effect on composition of dissolved organic matter
  in coastal marshes (LA)
• Integrated assessment
• Baseline assessment of bird populations in MI
  coastal marshes
• Baseline elevation and function of Gulf Coast
  baldcypress swamps
• Effect on FL coastal everglades
• Baseline assessment of plankton and seagrass beds
  within Grand Bay National Estuarine Research
  Reserve
• Baseline assessment of sediment and benthic
  communities within Grand Bay National Estuarine
  Research Reserve
• Baseline assessment of estuarine
  macroinvertebrates within Grand Bay

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Future Direction

• For the completion of the research partnership,
  we aim to identify areas of overlap and, perhaps
  more importantly, gaps in the multitude of
  monitoring and research efforts currently
  underway.
• This work will help to coordinate on-going and
  future research while indicating areas of
  under-implementation. In the short term, gaps in
  knowledge could lead to a deficient
  representation of the oil spill impacts .
• We will compile results from these analyses to
  address questions such as
• Are sufficient resources being allocated to
  sensitive Gulf species and ecosystems?
• Are protection and rehabilitation efforts thus
  far successful, unsuccessful or inconclusive?
• What are the gaps in knowledge?
• Additionally, we will make recommendations on
  future projects and goals for sensitive species
  protection.

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Obstacles

• Data sharing proprietary information
• Implementation of national data sharing agreement
  akin to the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
• Timeline
• Lengthy peer review process makes public use of
  academic findings for response efforts
  unrealistic
• Legal barriers
• Concerns over releasing data due to lawsuits
• Central repository
• A comprehensive list of relevant research within
  academia would allow greater flow of ideas and
  interdisciplinary cooperation

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Parting Thoughts Discussion

• What role should academia take in the oil spill
  response effort?
• Importance of funding academic research versus
  government research/monitoring
• Differences between the Deepwater Horizon spill
  and past oil spills
• Climate, ecosystems effected, amount of oil,
  clean up success
• Dispersants use, benefits consequences

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Questions?

• Thank you!
• Margo Moss
• Tierra Resources LLC
• 1310 Saint Andrew St. Suite 1
• New Orleans, LA 70130
• E margomoss_at_tierraresourcesllc.com, P
  504.319.1575

Gulf Gathering, March 14th 2011