How the Gulf Oil Spill Affects Microscopic Creatures

Under a grant from the US National Science Foundation (NSF), a team of researchers is currently conducting a new investigation into how the Deepwater Horizon oil spill affected tiny creatures that live in intertidal regions on beaches.

The investigation is being conducted about five months after the semi-submersible drilling rig exploded and sank in the waters off Louisiana, killing 11 crew members, and creating the worst environmental disaster in the history of the United States.

In spite of all this, “everywhere I went there was some sign of oil. It was awful,” says study researcher Holly Bik, who is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of New Hampshire.

Scientists from the Auburn University in Alabama and the University of Texas in San Antonio are also involved in the NSF-sponsored effort.

While the effects of the BP disaster on larger animals was already analyzed through several grants, a very small number of investigations was conducted into how the oil spill affected small creatures.

After spending more than one and a half weeks on the road, collecting samples from beaches along the Gulf of Mexico coast several times per day, the researchers are now ready to begin the next phase of their study .

They now plan to conduct DNA analysis on all of the samples that were collected from the beach. This will give the group an idea of the number of species living on the beaches, and also of their health status.

The new work is unfortunately critical at this point, given that widespread level of contamination affecting the Gulf area and surrounding beaches.

As Bik was sampling the beaches, she could see oil or oily residues everywhere. “It was shocking how far the impact of the spill reached,” the expert says.

“Turning up at a beach and finding a globby ball of tar that smelled like diesel, and I wasn't even seeing it at its worst,” she adds. The sampled areas cover about 1,300 miles (2,100 kilometers).

“The meiofaunal organisms – the fungi, algae and microscopic animals – form the base of the food chain,” the expert says, hinting at the importance this study has. “They are important for providing food for primary consumers,” she adds.

“If you have major impacts on the bottom of the food chain, that will work its way up, and you will see obvious impacts on the big creatures,” Bik concludes, quoted by Our Amazing Planet.