RAPID Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: Insights into salt marsh food webs from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill

快速深水地平线石油泄漏：从深水地平线石油泄漏中深入了解盐沼食物网

• 批准号: 1045221
• 负责人: Steven Pennings
• 金额: $ 13.11万
• 依托单位: University of Houston
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2010
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2010-07-01 至 2012-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1045221&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RAPID; Deepwater; Horizon; Oil; Spill

Intellectual Merit:The Deepwater Horizon oil spill was an unexpected event that represents a major disturbance to coastal systems. Our understanding of how oil affects coastal wetland communities is incomplete. In particular, we know little about how oil affects the arthropod food web, about dose-response relationships between oil exposure and community response, and about long-term recovery from exposure. Moreover, the spatial extent, severity and persistence of this novel disturbance will provide new insights into how coastal wetlands function. Pennings' laboratory is well poised to examine how this novel disturbance will affect coastal wetland communities. His group has set up and sampled an experiment in 2009 at 22 coastal wetland sites ranging along the Gulf Coast from Texas to Florida and the Atlantic Coast from Florida to Maine. This RAPID project will re-sample the same sites and plots in 2010 and future years to determine how the coastal food web is affected and recovers. The PIs will test the hypotheses that: a) oil exposure will reveal that herbivorous insects and snails have strong negative effects on salt marsh plants; b) oil exposure will reveal the importance of 'transient' members of the arthropod food web; c) oil exposure will interact with fertilizer and wrack treatments to affect the arthropod food web. Because of its spatial extent and persistent effects, the oil spill represents a novel disturbance to coastal wetlands. Evaluating community responses to this disturbance will provide new insights into how the food web functions, leading to a deeper understanding of this critical system.Broader impacts:Salt marshes provide a variety of critical ecosystem services to humanity. New scientific insights provided by this project will help predict the future condition of coastal wetlands, which are threatened by a combination of sea level rise, eutrophication, and other stressors such as oil spills, including this largest spill in U.S. history. Public interest in the health of coastal ecosystems is intense, and has already led to interviews of Pennings by journalists following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The results of this RAPID project will be of considerable media interest. In addition, the project will train two graduate students and one undergraduate in ecosystems science.

知识分子的优点：深水地平线漏油事件是一个意外的事件，代表了对沿海系统的重大干扰。我们对石油如何影响沿海湿地社区的理解是不完整的。特别是，我们对石油如何影响节肢动物食品网，关于油的剂量反应关系以及社区反应之间的剂量反应关系以及从暴露中的长期恢复。此外，这种新型干扰的空间程度，严重程度和持久性将为沿海湿地的运作方式提供新的见解。 Pennings的实验室有很好的准备，可以研究这种新颖的干扰将如何影响沿海湿地社区。他的小组在2009年在22个沿海湿地遗址进行了实验，并在从德克萨斯州到佛罗里达州和从佛罗里达到缅因州的大西洋沿岸的22个沿海湿地遗址进行了实验。这个快速的项目将在2010年和未来几年重新采样相同的地点和地块，以确定如何影响沿海食品网。 PIS将检验以下假设：a）油暴露会表明草食昆虫和蜗牛对盐沼泽植物具有强烈的负面影响； b）石油暴露将揭示节肢动物食品网的“短暂”成员的重要性； c）石油暴露会与肥料和苦难治疗相互作用，以影响节肢动物的食物网。由于其空间范围和持续的影响，石油漏油代表了对沿海湿地的新型干扰。评估社区对这种干扰的反应将为食物网的功能提供新的见解，从而深入了解这一关键系统。BROADER的影响：盐沼为人类提供了各种关键的生态系统服务。该项目提供的新科学见解将有助于预测沿海湿地的未来状况，这些状况受到海平面上升，富营养化的结合以及其他压力源的威胁，例如溢油，包括美国历史上最大的溢出。公众对沿海生态系统健康状况的兴趣非常强烈，并且已经导致了在深水地平线漏油事件发生后记者对记者的仔细访谈。这个快速项目的结果将引起媒体的极大兴趣。此外，该项目将培训两名研究生和一个生态系统科学的本科生。