FOCAL Response to Deep Water Horizon Oil Spill
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Our established sampling regime and proximity to the site allowed us to increase our sampling schedule immediately to investigate potential changes in marine ecosystem as a result of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. We doubled our plankton survey efforts to twice monthly during the period of May-December 2010 to collect samples at a higher temporal resolution. Samples collected during the oil spill will be compared against our historic time series (2004-2010) to investigate possible impacts due to the oil spill. The continuation of the FOCAL program will allow us to monitor the recovery of Alabama's marine ecosystem and assist in restoration decisions. |
FOCAL-Related Investigations
In addition to the core survey, researchers within FOCAL were able to leverage FOCAL resources for outside funding opportunities in support of oil spill-related research. A list of these FOCAL-related projects is below:
NSF RAPID
Graham, W.M. & Condon, R.H. Understanding ecosystem change within the plankton communities of the northern Gulf of Mexico as a consequence of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill: Is there a shift in the classical planktonic food web due to increased microbial activity on the shelf?
Powers, S.P. and F.J. Hernandez. Trophic interactions in floating Sargassum communities of the Gulf of Mexico: potential consequences of habitat degradation related to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Northern Gulf Institute
Condon, R.H. & Graham, W.M. Does the “primer effect” caused by the DWH oil spill result in increased microbial and zooplankton consumption of labile and refractory DOC?
Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative RAPID (Alabama) Hernandez, F.J. and K.M. Bayha. An examination of pre- and post-spill ichthyoplankton assemblage dynamics. Condon, R.H. Impacts of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill on ecosystem structure and function in Alabama’s marine waters. Park, K., B. Dzwonkowski, B.M. Webb, and Q.J. Chen. Modeling of circulation and physical transport for the Alabama coastal waters to assess transport and distribution of oil-derived substances. Dzwonkowski, B., K. Park, B.M. Webb, and A. Valle-Levinson. Investigation of the three dimensional Eulerian flow field and resulting Lagrangian transport pathways on the Alabama shelf. |
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Webb, B.M., K. Park, B. Dzwonkowski, and A. Valle-Levinson. Identifying transport pathways and quantifying exchange in Alabama’s coastal waters: from the shelf to the Delta.
Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative RFP III
Hernandez, F.J, S.P. Powers and M. Drymon. Floating Sargassum communities of the Gulf of Mexico: a continued assessment of associated faunal assemblages, trophic interactions and habitat function in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA)
FOCAL's baseline ichthyoplankton and zooplankton data set is one of only a few from the northern Gulf of Mexico available to assess potential impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
Therefore, in coordination with ADCNR-MRD, FOCAL researchers are preparing data from the historic plankton time series for inclusion in NOAA's damage assessment process.
In addition, FOCAL researchers are utilizing their expertise within their respective fields to assist NOAA-NRDA with their damage assessment process, covering a wide range of Technical Working Groups. Involvement ranges from the preparation of science plans for data collection to the actual field collection and processing of NRDA samples.