Multi-trophic response and effects of an extensive oil spill in a coastal fish nursery

2023年3月26日，位于多塞特郡Poole Harbour的Perenco管道发生了一次大型油藏流体泄漏（总计31,000升）。这次泄漏蔓延到整个港口，并特别集中在布朗西岛的沼泽地——一个全国重要的幼鱼苗圃。这次石油泄漏带来了几个紧迫的机会，而这些机会正是该团队所特有的。也就是说，i)根据BACI设计，确定泄漏对2023/24年鱼类健康和苗圃生产力的影响，因为我们在2022年对这些和附近的地点进行了采样；ii)为英国首个幼鲈鱼组织库和无脊椎动物组织库收集独特的污染鱼类组织样本并进行相关分析；Iv)记录原位微生物群落，特别是烃类降解微生物的时空响应。为了实现这些目标，我们迫切需要资金将这些目标整合到2023年几个研究团队的实地季节中。在初步分析和发现的基础上，我们将提出一项建议，研究海洋石油泄漏和生态系统恢复的多营养反应。

On the 26th of March 2023 a large reservoir fluid spill occurred (totalling 31,000 Litre) from a Perenco pipeline in Poole Harbour, Dorset. This spill spread across the harbour and became particularly concentrated on the marshes of Brownsea Island - a nationally important juvenile fish nursery. This oil spill brings about several urgent opportunities that the team are uniquely positioned to deliver on; that is, i) to ascertain the effects of the spill on fish health and nursery ground productivity in 2023/24 based on a BACI design, as we have sampled these and nearby sites in 2022; ii) to collect unique polluted fish tissue samples to the UKs first juvenile bass tissue bank, and an invertebrate tissue bank and associated analysis; iv) to document the spatio-temporal response of the in-situ microbial community, particularly hydrocarbon-degrading microbes. In order to achieve these objectives, we require urgent funding to integrate these objectives into the 2023 field season of several research teams. Building on our initial analysis and findings, we will develop a proposal to examine multi-trophic responses to marine oil spills and ecosystem recovery.