Collaborative: INFEWS: U.S.-China: Synergistic Effects of Petroleum Production and Ocean Environmental Changes on Oyster Health

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This project was awarded through the "National Science Foundation (NSF) / National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) Joint Research on Environmental Sustainability Challenges" opportunity. Understanding the connections between interrelated food, energy, and water (FEW) systems is essential for the development of sustainable worldwide seafood production. Fish and shellfish serve as an important source of high-quality protein and non-saturated fat. Near-shore aquaculture supplies over 50% of global seafood production. However, over the past decades, seafood species and the production of these species have been severely affected by water contamination as a result of energy production and climate change. In this study, investigators from Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, Louisiana State University, and Dalian Ocean University in China will identify potential risks of oyster production systems exposed to the contamination of petroleum products and the adverse environmental factors of UV radiation, ocean salinity fluctuation, and ocean acidification. An ocean model containing simulated environmental stresses will be developed to predict how petroleum products impact the development and growth of oysters in near-shore habitats in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) and in Bohai Bay (BhB), China. Data generated from this investigation could support the Food Safety Modernization Act goals of risk-ranking consumable seafood.This study aims to address the two themes proposed in the National Science Foundation/National Natural Science Foundation of China Joint Research on Environmental Sustainability Challenges; 1) quantitative and computational modeling of a FEW system and 2) innovative human and technological solutions to critical FEW systems problems. The project uses the oyster as a model aquaculture species to assess the toxicity changes of crude oil compounds in response to environmental stresses. With the increasing activities in the petroleum industry along coastal lines, the accumulation of oil pollutants in oysters becomes a concern for human health. The locations to be studied in this project, the GoM in the US and the BhB in China, share the common characteristics of robust seafood harvesting in conjunction with a vigorous petroleum production industry. However, these marine environments have distinct differences due to their geographic locations. Hence, the two unique systems represent diversified FEW networks. This diversity of the networks is expected to be explored by the computational modeling approach developed in this study. The strategies and methods employed can be further extended to other marine aquaculture species. Moreover, this investigation on the marine impact of crude oil can translate to other marine contaminants such as pesticides and pharmaceutical products, which have also become of concern in onshore/offshore aquaculture. Research results will provide 1) a better understanding of the toxicological alterations of petroleum products under global environmental change; 2) the impacts of the modification in petroleum products on the health of aquaculture species; 3) identification of environmental stress modified petrogenic products and their toxicities to oysters that should serve as references for the management of onshore/offshore aquaculture and oil production; and 4) prediction of impacts of oil production on global ocean environments and world aquaculture concurrent with climate change.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.