College of Marine Science, University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, FL, USA.
College of Marine Science, University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, FL, USA; Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, 45600 Woodland Road, Sterling, VA 20166, USA.
Mar Pollut Bull. 2021 Feb;163:111882. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2020.111882. Epub 2020 Dec 24.
We evaluated the resilience of the zooplankton community to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the northeast Gulf of Mexico, by assessing abundance, biomass, spatial distribution, species composition, and diversity indices during spring, summer, and winter, May 2010 to August 2014. SEAMAP samples collected between spring and summer 2005-2009 were analyzed as a baseline. Our results did not indicate that there was a long-term impact from the oil spill, but did demonstrate that environmental variability and riverine processes strongly governed zooplankton community dynamics. Zooplankton abundances during the oil spill (spring 2010) were not significantly different from abundances during spring 2011 and 2012. Summer 2010 abundances were the highest observed for the 2005 to 2014 period, due to high river discharge, high chlorophyll, and aggregation in eddies. High densities of the dinoflagellate, Noctiluca, during the oil spill, and the copepod, Centropages velificatus, and larvaceans in all years, suggest that these taxa warrant further investigation. Ecosystem connectivity (zooplankton transport by currents into the oil spill region), high fecundity, relatively short generation times, and refugia in deeper depths are key factors in zooplankton resilience to major perturbations. This study serves as a baseline for assessment of future impacts to this system.
我们评估了东北墨西哥湾的浮游动物群落对深海地平线石油泄漏的恢复能力，通过评估 2010 年 5 月至 2014 年 8 月期间春季、夏季和冬季的丰度、生物量、空间分布、物种组成和多样性指数。分析了 2005 年至 2009 年春季至夏季之间收集的 SEAMAP 样本作为基线。我们的结果表明，石油泄漏没有造成长期影响，但确实表明环境变异性和河流过程强烈控制了浮游动物群落的动态。石油泄漏期间（2010 年春季）的浮游动物丰度与 2011 年和 2012 年春季的丰度没有显著差异。由于高河流流量、高叶绿素和旋流中的聚集，2010 年夏季的丰度是 2005 年至 2014 年期间观察到的最高值。在石油泄漏期间，夜光藻的密度很高，以及所有年份的桡足类 Centropages velificatus 和磷虾类，表明这些类群值得进一步研究。生态系统连接（浮游动物通过海流运送到石油泄漏区）、高繁殖力、相对较短的世代时间和更深的避难所是浮游动物对重大干扰恢复能力的关键因素。本研究为评估该系统未来的影响提供了基线。
