RAPID Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: Responses of Benthic Communities and Sedimentary Dynamics to Hydrocarbon Exposure in Coastal Ecosystems of the northern Gulf of Mexico

这是一个快速的奖项，以应对墨西哥湾的深地平线石油泄漏。 这项工作包括按时间序列收集样本，以检查从基线条件到最大暴露量的变化，从深水井口泄漏到墨西哥湾北方沿着的各种地点。 采样地点包括密西西比东部贝儿方丹角和路易斯安那州新港群岛的潮间带。 取样和分析工作将确定油气转化和生物地球化学过程引起的变化、生物扰动率的变化以及海底大型和小型底栖生物组合随时间的变化。 将评估这些变量对物理和沉积过程以及大型底栖动物的影响。这项工作的更广泛影响将对理解石油泄漏对沿海生态系统的影响产生直接影响，并提供数据来研究生态系统崩溃和恢复的时间尺度。 这项工作将有可能减轻石油泄漏对沿海系统的长期影响。 这项工作还将与北方海湾研究所和海洋大气署合作，培训学生并开展公共宣传活动。

This is a RAPID award to respond to the Deep Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. The work involves the time series collection of samples to examine the changes, from baseline conditions to maximum exposure, to the oil leaking out of the deepwater well head to a variety of coastal sites along the Northern Gulf of Mexico. Sampling sites include the intertidal zone at Belle Fontaine Point in eastern Mississippi and the New Harbor Islands in Louisiana. Samples and analytical work will determine hydrocarbon transformations and changes due to biogeochemical processes, changes in bioturbation rates, and changes in the assemblages of benthic macro- and meiofauna over time. Implications of these variables for physical and sedimentary processes and for macrofauna will be assessed. Broader impacts of the work will have immediate implications for understanding the impacts of the oil spill on coastal ecosystems and provide data to examine the time scale of ecosystem crash and recovery. The work will have potential for mitigating the long term effects of the oil spill on coastal systems. The work will also train students and provide public outreach activities that will be carried out in collaboration with the Northern Gulf Institution and with NOAA.