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.

对墨西哥湾深水地平线石油泄漏的近期和长期生态影响的评估才刚刚开始。这个项目采用了比较简单的方法？软体动物生存和时间平均死亡组合的秩序丰度比较？建立牡蛎礁健康的生态基线。这种方法的优点是提供了一个普查的牡蛎礁社区的地区，在传统的生活收集的样本，从长期的监测工作是稀疏或不可用。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，对影响前牡蛎礁的构成提供独特的视角。这类信息不是从？快照？许多政府和非政府机构为应对漏油事件而收集的数据。这些信息为制定恢复目标提供了急需的背景。它还强调了地质历史数据在保护工作中发挥的关键作用，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。这项研究还为未来的政策修正奠定了基础，并确保我们的溢油后保护工作与基于生态系统的管理方法更加一致，这种方法整合和实施了更多的知识，以改善管理和政策决策。虽然许多现有的养护和管理进程包括基线评估的各个方面，但大多数应急工作仅侧重于范围有限的补救管理工作。在这方面，缺少一个更积极主动的进程，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补救工作有效，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性。该项目为这种方法提供了一个有价值的例子。该项目的结果将向学术界和公众广泛传播。特别是，两个外联项目将使地方和国家的广大受众能够了解这些成果。这些项目以古生物研究所最近的外联举措为基础，这些举措是对公众要求提供关于深水地平线石油泄漏的生态影响的信息的要求作出的回应。这些举措中的第一个是在PRI的一个小型临时展览？地球博物馆。该展览是基于现代海洋无脊椎动物，特别是珊瑚和软体动物，从PRI？广泛的研究收藏。 第二个网站（www.museumoftheearth.org/undersiege）解释海湾和礁岛群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这个牡蛎礁项目的成果。