Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, United States of America.
Department of Environmental Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2018 Apr 11;13(4):e0194941. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0194941. eCollection 2018.
Terrestrial arthropods play an important role in saltmarsh ecosystems, mainly affecting the saltmarsh's primary production as the main consumers of terrestrial primary production and decomposition. Some of these arthropods, including selected insects and spiders, can be used as ecological indicators of overall marsh environmental health, as they are differentially sensitive to ecological stressors, such as land loss, erosion, oil spills, and tropical storms. In the present study, we used terrestrial arthropods collected from seven (three lightly-oiled, four heavily-oiled) sites in Barataria Bay and from three unoiled reference sites in Delacroix, Louisiana, to determine the impacts of the distribution and re-distribution of Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil on these saltmarsh ecosystems. A total of 9,476 and 12,256 insects were collected in 2013 and 2014, respectively. The results show that the terrestrial arthropods were negatively affected by the re-distribution of DWH oil by Hurricane Isaac in 2012, although the level of impacts varied among the arthropod groups. Moreover, the mean diversity index was higher (>1.5) in 2014 than in 2013 (<1.5) for all sites, suggesting a recovery trajectory of the saltmarsh arthropod population. The higher taxonomic richness observed in the reference sites compared to the oiled sites for both years also indicated long-term impacts of DWH oil to the saltmarsh arthropod community. Whereas a slow recovery of certain terrestrial arthropods was observed, long-term monitoring of arthropod communities would help better understand the recovery and succession of the marsh ecosystems.
陆生节肢动物在盐沼生态系统中起着重要作用，主要作为陆地初级生产的主要消费者和分解者影响盐沼的初级生产。其中一些节肢动物，包括选定的昆虫和蜘蛛，可以作为整个沼泽环境健康的生态指标，因为它们对生态胁迫因子（如土地流失、侵蚀、溢油和热带风暴）具有不同的敏感性。在本研究中，我们使用从 Barataria 湾的七个（三个轻度污染，四个重度污染）地点和路易斯安那州 Delacroix 的三个未污染参考地点采集的陆生节肢动物，来确定 Deepwater Horizon（DWH）溢油的分布和再分布对这些盐沼生态系统的影响。2013 年和 2014 年分别采集了 9476 只和 12256 只昆虫。结果表明，尽管受影响的程度因节肢动物群体而异，但 2012 年 Hurricane Isaac 再分布的 DWH 溢油对陆生节肢动物产生了负面影响。此外，所有地点 2014 年的平均多样性指数（>1.5）均高于 2013 年（<1.5），表明盐沼节肢动物种群呈恢复趋势。与受油地点相比，参考地点在这两年的分类丰富度更高，这也表明 DWH 溢油对盐沼节肢动物群落产生了长期影响。尽管某些陆生节肢动物的恢复速度较慢，但对节肢动物群落的长期监测将有助于更好地了解沼泽生态系统的恢复和演替。
