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VIMS professor to study effects of oil spill on Gulf food chain
<SMALL class=article-meta>by David Malmquist | September 12, 2011</SMALL>
Professor Bob Diaz of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science is part of a nationwide team that recently received a three-year, $12 million grant from the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative to study the effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on the Gulf and its marine life.
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These two ?WormCams? will allow Diaz and VIMS marine technician Todd Nelson to monitor and compare the abundance and diversity of clams, worms, and other bottom-dwelling organisms at the oiled and un-oiled site. The oiled site is likely to be Terrebonne Bay, a marshy embayment along the southwestern side of the Mississippi Delta.
Diaz says it?s particularly important to monitor the spill?s long-term effect on shallow marshes and their ?benthic? organisms because these bottom-dwelling communities form an important link in the marine food chain.
?Most of the oil that came ashore hit the shallow marshes along the Louisiana coast,? says Diaz. ?These are key nursery areas for the area?s shrimp fisheries.? Louisiana landed 89 million pounds of shrimp in 2008?atop all Gulf states?with a dockside value of $130.6 million.
?WormCam will give us the ability to look at what?s known as sediment mixing or bioturbation,? says Diaz. ?A big concern is that bottom-dwelling organisms may be ingesting the oil in the sediments and passing it up the food chain to shrimp and fishes. Hopefully we?ll be able to see if the organisms are avoiding the oiled sediment layers.?
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<SMALL class=article-meta>by David Malmquist | September 12, 2011</SMALL>
Professor Bob Diaz of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science is part of a nationwide team that recently received a three-year, $12 million grant from the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative to study the effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on the Gulf and its marine life.
...
<IFRAME height=345 src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/smkT9sR3fyY" frameBorder=0 width=420 allowfullscreen></IFRAME>
These two ?WormCams? will allow Diaz and VIMS marine technician Todd Nelson to monitor and compare the abundance and diversity of clams, worms, and other bottom-dwelling organisms at the oiled and un-oiled site. The oiled site is likely to be Terrebonne Bay, a marshy embayment along the southwestern side of the Mississippi Delta.
Diaz says it?s particularly important to monitor the spill?s long-term effect on shallow marshes and their ?benthic? organisms because these bottom-dwelling communities form an important link in the marine food chain.
?Most of the oil that came ashore hit the shallow marshes along the Louisiana coast,? says Diaz. ?These are key nursery areas for the area?s shrimp fisheries.? Louisiana landed 89 million pounds of shrimp in 2008?atop all Gulf states?with a dockside value of $130.6 million.
?WormCam will give us the ability to look at what?s known as sediment mixing or bioturbation,? says Diaz. ?A big concern is that bottom-dwelling organisms may be ingesting the oil in the sediments and passing it up the food chain to shrimp and fishes. Hopefully we?ll be able to see if the organisms are avoiding the oiled sediment layers.?
More...
