RAPID: Census activities and a workshop on baseline coastal data for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill

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The ecological effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on coastal areas of the Gulf of Mexico will persist for decades. Scientists need to quantify these effects in ways that will best allow for understanding and responding to this environmental catastrophe. There are three key challenges for ecologists: adequate sampling of the important species across coastal habitats as soon as possible, coordinating the scientific effort to monitor a broad range of habitats and species, and creating a large database to effectively use the collected scientific data. This is a RAPID project that will expand an ongoing long-term study of vegetation on coastal dunes habitats, in order to monitor the effects of the oil spill in future years. An original 11-year study of the vegetation on St. George Island, FL, provides critical baseline data on coastal plant communities. The methods from this study will be replicated at four other sites along the west coast of Florida, across a gradient of exposure to the oil spill. As part of this RAPID project, a workshop will be conducted to bring together ecologists investigating oil spill effects in coastal areas, with the goal of planning how the scientific community should respond to the oil spill. In particular, this workshop will address how to coordinate the responses of the many scientists and agencies involved to obtain the best scientific data possible, as well as the creation of a single database for the use of scientists, associated agencies, and the public. This workshop will have long-lasting effects for the coastal research associated with the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, by creating guidelines for research and data collection. The research on coastal dunes will provide hands-on field experience for a number of graduate and undergraduate students, as well as training in soil analyses, data processing, and some data analysis. The fieldwork will also involve local chapters of the Florida Native Plant Society to help with the identification of plants in their area, help protect and census sites, and create local plant guides for each site.