Geohistorical Baselines of Osyter Reef Health: A Paleoecological Response to the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill

牡蛎礁健康的地史基线：对深水地平线漏油事件的古生态响应

• 批准号: 1064259
• 负责人: Gregory Dietl
• 金额: $ 3.86万
• 依托单位: Paleontological Research Institute
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-02-15 至 2013-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1064259&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Geohistorical; Baselines; Osyter; Reef; Health

The near- and long-term ecological effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico are only just beginning to be assessed. This project uses a relatively simple method? comparison of the rank-order abundance of molluscan living and time-averaged death assemblages ?to establish an ecological baseline of oyster reef health. This approach has the advantage of providing a census of oyster reef communities in areas where conventional live-collected samples resulting from long-term monitoring efforts are sparse or unavailable. Such baseline information will allow us to move beyond the recognition of the immediate ecological changes resulting from the oil spill, by providing a unique perspective on the composition of pre-impact oyster reefs. This kind of information is not available from ?snapshot? baselines, such as those collected by many governmental and non-governmental agencies in response to the oil spill. This information provides much needed context for setting restoration goals. It also highlights the key role that geohistorical data have to play in conservation efforts.The results of this study provide critical baseline data needed to assess the impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on the ecology and structure of oyster reefs in the Gulf region. This study also serves as a foundation for future policy amendments and ensures our post oil spill conservation efforts more fully align with an ecosystem-based management approach that integrates and implements increased knowledge to improve management and policy decisions. While many existing conservation and management processes include aspects of a baseline assessment, most contingency efforts focus solely on a limited range of remedial management efforts. Missing from this picture is a more proactive process for more comprehensive recognition of human effects on marine ecosystems. For future ecosystem remediation efforts to be effective, a more holistic approach that incorporates and explicitly evaluates the historical diversity and abundance of our marine ecosystems will be required. This project provides a valuable example of such an approach.Results from this project will be widely disseminated both to the academic community and general public. In particular, two outreach projects will make the results accessible to broad audiences both locally and nationally. These projects build on recent outreach initiatives of the Paleontological Research Institution (PRI), which were a response to public requests for information on the ecological effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The first of these initiatives is a small temporary exhibit in PRI?s Museum of the Earth. The exhibit is based on specimens of modern marine invertebrates, especially corals and mollusks, from PRI?s extensive research collections. The second is a website (www.museumoftheearth.org/undersiege) explaining the diversity of marine invertebrates in the Gulf and Keys and why these species may be especially vulnerable to crude oil. These two vehicles will be used to present the results of this oyster reef project.

墨西哥湾深水地平线漏油事件的近期和长期生态影响才刚刚开始评估。这个项目使用了一个比较简单的方法？比较软体动物活体组合和时间平均死亡组合的等级顺序丰度，以建立牡蛎礁健康的生态基线。这种方法的优点是可以在长期监测工作所产生的传统活体采集样本稀少或无法获得的地区提供牡蛎礁群落普查。这些基线信息将使我们能够超越对石油泄漏造成的直接生态变化的认识，为撞击前牡蛎礁的组成提供独特的视角。此类信息无法从“快照”中获得。基线，例如许多政府和非政府机构为应对石油泄漏而收集的基线。这些信息为设定恢复目标提供了急需的背景。它还强调了地历史数据在保护工作中必须发挥的关键作用。这项研究的结果提供了评估深水地平线石油泄漏对海湾地区牡蛎礁生态和结构的影响所需的关键基线数据。这项研究还可以作为未来政策修订的基础，并确保我们的漏油后保护工作更充分地符合基于生态系统的管理方法，该方法整合和实施更多的知识以改进管理和政策决策。虽然许多现有的保护和管理流程包括基线评估的各个方面，但大多数应急工作仅侧重于有限范围的补救管理工作。这张图片中缺少的是更积极主动的过程，以更全面地认识人类对海洋生态系统的影响。 为了使未来的生态系统修复工作发挥作用，需要采取更全面的方法，纳入并明确评估我们海洋生态系统的历史多样性和丰富度。该项目提供了这种方法的一个有价值的例子。该项目的结果将向学术界和公众广泛传播。特别是，两个外展项目将使当地和全国的广大受众能够了解研究结果。这些项目建立在古生物学研究所 (PRI) 最近的推广计划的基础上，该计划是对公众索取有关深水地平线漏油生态影响信息的请求的回应。第一个举措是在 PRI 地球博物馆举办小型临时展览。该展览以现代海洋无脊椎动物标本为基础，特别是珊瑚和软体动物标本，这些标本来自 PRI 广泛的研究收藏。 第二个是一个网站（www.museumoftheearth.org/undersiege），解释了海湾和群岛海洋无脊椎动物的多样性以及为什么这些物种可能特别容易受到原油的影响。这两辆车将用于展示该牡蛎礁项目的成果。