Tiniest Victims Of The Gulf Of Mexico Oil Spill May Turn Out To Be Most Important - NOLA.com

Tiniest victims of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill may turn out to be most important
By Bob Marshall, The Times-Picayune
May 14, 2010, 7:00PM

<snip>

To the watching world the environmental threat that BP's oil disaster poses to the nature-rich Louisiana coast is captured in images of beautiful birds or furry creatures crippled by thick black goo. But scientists who know these estuaries best are more concerned about a less photogenic community.

The grass, microscopic algae and critters living in the wafer-thin top layer of marsh mud - called the benthic community - are the fuel that drives the whole system. If it's covered with oil, everything above, including birds, fish and cute, furry critters, will be in trouble. And so will the humans who rely on the marsh for storm protection and seafood production.



"The top two millimeters of that marsh muck is where the action is in a coastal estuary," said Kevin Carman, dean of the College of Basic Sciences at LSU. "That's the base, the food that fuels the whole system. If you lose that in a large enough area it could have a disproportionate impact on the food web, and everything that depends on it: fish, shrimp, oysters, all the species that rely on the estuary."

Half of the all the life created in the one of the world's most productive estuaries takes place in this slimy zone just seven-hundredths of an inch thick. It's a world too small for the human eye to detect and involves creatures few people have ever heard of, but one that looms huge for the larger critters in the system.



The production line starts with microalgae, single-celled organisms that feed and grow on nutrients deposited in the mud by decaying organic matter - primarily the local saltwater marsh grasses. Microalgae perform several key functions, including removing carbon dioxide and releasing oxygen, and leaving behind a sticky, glue-like substance that helps bind organic and mineral soils in the marsh, an important factor in fighting coastal land loss.

Most critically to the estuarine food chain, the microalgae are the forage for a vast range of equally tiny worms and crustaceans and other invertebrates, as well as the early stages of shrimp, crabs, oysters and almost all fish from menhaden to speckled trout and reds.

In fact, marine biologists estimate 97 percent of all marine species in the Gulf of Mexico depend on estuaries at some point in their life cycles, which means that benthic community has an impact far beyond the beach line.

"It's an incredible engine for a wide range of life," Carman said.

It's a system that shows great resilience and continues to hum along in the face of nature's toughest blows, from hurricanes to freezes. But scientists worry how well it would cope with the giant oil spill that could be washing ashore for weeks on end, because that has never happened before. However, they can paint a worst-case scenario from the many smaller, inland spills that have hit state's interior coastal wetlands during the 80 years the oil industry has been here.

It's a frightening picture.

"If the toxic components of the oil kill those invertebrates foraging on the algae, then the algae will grow out of control," Carman said. "The analogy would be if you removed cattle grazing in a field, the grasses would just take over. Same thing here."

<snip>

More: http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2010/05/tiniest_victims_of_the_gulf_of.html#comments

:shrug:

What penalty is appropriate?

huge bonuses and total amnesty.

Or a square assed beat down which leaves them paralyzed. Their choice.


The fuckers.

--important that people get how a marine ecosystem works.

ongoing disaster......:banghead: :argh: :mad:

Gulf of Mexico, RIP. Killed by human greed.

I hope that once this leak is stopped and we do what we can to clean it up, that Nature will begin the process of repairing the damage done by humans.

Particularly the prospect of this mess ending up in the Atlantic and destroying the plankton there. Not only will the food chain be destroyed, but fully half of earth's oxygen comes from photosynthesis by phytoplankton.

FOOD. CHAIN.

And we all know chains are only as strong as their weakest links.