What Promotes the Recovery of Salt Marsh Infauna After Oil Spills?

Fleeger, John W.; Riggio, M.R.; Mendelssohn, I. A.; Lin, Qinhao; Deis, Donald R.; Johnson, David Samuel; Carman, Kevin R.; Graham, Sean A.; Zengel, Scott; Hou, Aixin

doi:10.1007/s12237-018-0443-2

Cited by 29 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 67 publications

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“…Heavily oiled areas exhibited significant reductions in most infaunal taxa, including nematodes, polychaetes, copepods, amphipods, annelids, bivalves and other species (Fleeger et al, 2019). Whereas nematodes and some polychaetes rebounded rather quickly in moderately and heavily oiled sites, kinorhynchs, other polychaetes, ostracods, and juvenile gastropods recovered more slowly, and were not fully recovered even 6.5 years after initial oiling (Fleeger et al, 2019). Poor soil quality was associated with the slow recovery at these sites.…”

Section: Species-level Summariesmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…At the salt marsh edge, extensive oiling killed above-and belowground plant biomass resulting in collapse of the marsh edge. Fleeger et al (2015Fleeger et al ( , 2019 noted the importance of these "foundation" plant species (e.g., Spartina), soil quality and benthic algae in promoting the recovery of meiobenthos and burrowing epi-benthos (Zengel et al, 2016). Heavily oiled areas exhibited significant reductions in most infaunal taxa, including nematodes, polychaetes, copepods, amphipods, annelids, bivalves and other species (Fleeger et al, 2019).…”

Section: Species-level Summariesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Fleeger et al (2015Fleeger et al ( , 2019 noted the importance of these "foundation" plant species (e.g., Spartina), soil quality and benthic algae in promoting the recovery of meiobenthos and burrowing epi-benthos (Zengel et al, 2016). Heavily oiled areas exhibited significant reductions in most infaunal taxa, including nematodes, polychaetes, copepods, amphipods, annelids, bivalves and other species (Fleeger et al, 2019). Whereas nematodes and some polychaetes rebounded rather quickly in moderately and heavily oiled sites, kinorhynchs, other polychaetes, ostracods, and juvenile gastropods recovered more slowly, and were not fully recovered even 6.5 years after initial oiling (Fleeger et al, 2019).…”

Section: Species-level Summariesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Synthesis of Deepwater Horizon Impacts on Coastal and Nearshore Living Marine Resources

et al. 2021

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The 2010 Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil blowout in the Gulf of Mexico began on April 20, originating in the deep sea 66 km off the Louisiana coast. By early June, DWH oil had spread to coastal Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and western Florida. An estimated 2,113 km of shoreline were oiled, making DWH the largest marine oil spill in global history by length of affected shoreline. Additionally, a series of oil spill response measures were deployed, including diversions of Mississippi River discharge to forestall oil coming ashore, and the establishment of large-scale fishery closures, with both affecting coastal resources to varying degrees. Here, we review published studies and describe additional analyses evaluating long-term impacts of DWH on coastal/nearshore biological resources. We assembled time-series data collected by state, federal and academic partners on population abundance and environmental conditions to evaluate species and community change. Our study focused on plankton, invertebrates, fishes and dolphins, and 13 “key species” were selected to conduct semi-quantitative vulnerability-resilience (V-R) analyses. At one extreme, early life stages of Gulf Menhaden (Brevoortia patronus) were not affected due to seasonal spawning and larval development preceding the spill. In contrast, demographically independent populations of the common Bottlenose Dolphin, (Tursiops truncatus) suffered a variety of severe and ongoing health effects owing to oil exposure. Virtually all of the heavily oiled salt marsh habitat was in Louisiana, with the majority occurring in Barataria Bay. Multispecies trawl survey abundances declined post-DWH throughout eastern coastal Louisiana but remained stable elsewhere. A regime shift in composition of Barataria Bay trawl survey catches occurred during and following the spill, the persistence of which was associated with long-term reductions in average salinity and increases in water clarity. In some cases, fishery closures were associated with measurable but ephemeral increases in abundance of some targeted and bycatch species. Freshwater flooding of marshes was ineffective in preventing coastal oiling and severely affected benthic euryhaline resources including Eastern Oyster (Crassostrea virginica) and Marsh Periwinkle (Littoraria irrorata). The flooding response measure experiment also indicates the directionality of impacts that further planned water diversions may have on ecological communities of lower Mississippi River basins.

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Section: Species-level Summariesmentioning

confidence: 92%

Section: Species-level Summariesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Species-level Summariesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Synthesis of Deepwater Horizon Impacts on Coastal and Nearshore Living Marine Resources

et al. 2021

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“…April 2020 will mark the 10-year Anniversary of the disaster. As detailed in the NWF follow-up report, '10 Species, 10 Years Later: A Look at Gulf Restoration after the Deepwater Horizon Disaster' and other studies the oil and its impacts are still being felt throughout the Louisiana marsh and Gulf ecosystem (Fleeger et al, 2018;NWF, 2020). To mitigate those impacts, a massive restoration effort throughout the region is now underway, funded by money from Deepwater Horizon owner BP (formerly British Petroleum) and other parties responsible for the oil spill.…”

Section: Setting the Stage: Deepwater Horizon Disaster And Its Enviromentioning

confidence: 99%

Recovering from disaster: Holding industry accountable for restoration

Raettig¹,

Muth²

2021

Sustainable Industrial Water Use: Perspectives, Incentives, and Tools

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As the largest non-profit education and conservation organization in the United States, the mission of the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) is 'uniting all Americans to ensure wildlife thrive in a rapidly changing world'. To do this, NWF educates and advocates for science-based policy to protect and restore wildlife populations and habitat. In the Gulf of Mexico region, NWF is engaged in several projects to restore the Mississippi River Delta, the Gulf, and the Everglades as well as Texas rivers and streams. That ongoing work took a dramatic turn in 2010 when the largest marine oil spill in history occurred in the Gulf of Mexico. Despite regulations requiring oil companies to operate safely with legal penalties for pollution, federal law and policy alone were ill equipped to mitigate a disaster of this magnitude. As this chapter relates, in addition to its disastrous impact on the Gulf Coast ecosystem, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill also presented a challenge to national environmental protection and habitat preservation organizations and partners in the Gulf region. Their collective task was to make sure that the federal government vigorously enforced all regulations and applied all available remedies towards significant, permanent restoration of damaged ecosystems. NWF met this crisis with a combination of political advocacy and scientific fieldwork to ensure that those responsible would pay to mitigate the damage, and that funds collected would be allocated where they would do the most good.

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“…Salt marsh invertebrate communities had not fully recovered six and a half years following oiling by the Deepwater Horizon (DWH, Fleeger et al, 2019). Although the regrowth of Spartina alterniflora and benthic microalgae significantly enhanced the recovery of numerous species, poor soil quality (e.g., reduced live below ground biomass, bulk density, elevated Total Petroleum Hydrocarbon (TPH) concentrations) appears to be a significant factor in the lack of recovery of the kinorhynch Echinoderes coulli , the polychaete Manayunkia aestuarina , ostracods, and juvenile gastropods.…”

Section: Effects Of Microplastic Debrismentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of pollution on marine organisms

Mearns

Morrison

Arthur³

et al. 2020

Water Environment Research

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This review covers selected 2019 articles on the biological effects of pollutants, including human physical disturbances, on marine and estuarine plants, animals, ecosystems, and habitats. The review, based largely on journal articles, covers field, and laboratory measurement activities (bioaccumulation of contaminants, field assessment surveys, toxicity testing, and biomarkers) as well as pollution issues of current interest including endocrine disrupters, emerging contaminants, wastewater discharges, marine debris, dredging, and disposal. Special emphasis is placed on effects of oil spills and marine debris due largely to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil blowout in the Gulf of Mexico and proliferation of data on the assimilation and effects of marine debris microparticulates. Several topical areas reviewed in the past (e.g., mass mortalities ocean acidification) were dropped this year. The focus of this review is on effects, not on pollutant sources, chemistry, fate, or transport. There is considerable overlap across subject areas (e.g., some bioaccumulation data may be appeared in other topical categories such as effects of wastewater discharges, or biomarker studies appearing in oil toxicity literature). Therefore, we strongly urge readers to use keyword searching of the text and references to locate related but distributed information. Although nearly 400 papers are cited, these now represent a fraction of the literature on these subjects. Use this review mainly as a starting point. And please consult the original papers before citing them.

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What Promotes the Recovery of Salt Marsh Infauna After Oil Spills?

Cited by 29 publications

References 67 publications

A Synthesis of Deepwater Horizon Impacts on Coastal and Nearshore Living Marine Resources

A Synthesis of Deepwater Horizon Impacts on Coastal and Nearshore Living Marine Resources

Recovering from disaster: Holding industry accountable for restoration

Effects of pollution on marine organisms

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