A new study from a Coastal Waters Consortium team of researchers led by Rutgers University postdoctoral researcher, Michael McCann, has found which birds, fish, insects and other animals affected by the Deepwater Horizon explosion should be given top priority for conservation, protection and research.
A new study from a Coastal Waters Consortium team of researchers led by Rutgers University postdoctoral researcher, Michael McCann, has found which birds, fish, insects and other animals affected by the Deepwater Horizon explosion should be given top priority for conservation, protection and research.
Until now scientists didn’t know which kinds of animals were most affected and what impact their collective fates had on the food chain after the offshore oil rig Deepwater Horizon exploded in 2010 and dumped 4.9 million barrels of oil into Louisiana’s salt marshes.
“There were lots of studies about who eats whom, and about what species are sensitive to oil,” says Olaf Jensen, professor of marine and coastal sciences in the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, and co-author of the study. “We put those together and asked, ‘Who is both important in the food web and really sensitive to oil?’” These are the species most in need of protection because their loss can have ripple effects throughout the food chain, said Jensen.
Continue reading at Rutgers University.
Photo via Rutgers University.
