Archive: Around Town

Despite the hopeful news on the 24-hour news channels, the effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill are far from over. The Paleontological Research Institution (PRI) announced 'Under Siege' - a website about the threats of the oil spill on the subsurface biota of the Gulf of Mexico and Florida Keys.

"Our intent with the 'Under Siege' website and our temporary exhibit of the same name at the Museum of the Earth, is to spread awareness of the high levels of biodiversity in the Gulf that are at risk in this devastating disaster," says Dr. Paula Mikkelsen, associate director for science at the Paleontological Research Institution.  Mikkelsen has focussed her professional research around the aquatic biodiversity of these now-threatened marine organisms.

Every habitat -- from intertidal oyster bars and mangroves, to shallow seagrass beds, to coral reefs, deepwater sand plains, and pelagic Sargassum algae – includes thousands of species of invertebrates (coral, barnacles, snails, clams, starfish, sea urchins, sponges, and others) that depend upon clean water to survive. This disaster has severely threatened aquatic biodiversity through contamination. The relationships of these marine ecosystems could soon be impacted, starting at the most basic levels, as the oxygen quality is compromised and the organisms’ food sources are killed.

Many of these species are filter feeders, sieving food particles from the water, while others graze on algae or wait to feed on the filter feeders and grazers. All of these animals “breathe water,” extracting life-giving oxygen with their delicate gills. Oil in the water or their food sources will kill them, along with the algae and marine plants that they depend upon. The devastating reality is that there are no clean up efforts or rescue excursions that can help the eastern oysters, tube coral and other marine invertebrates that could be affected by the spill. As many as 15,000 species are indigenous to the Gulf and are threatened by this disaster.

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