GoMRI and Screenscope Films Announce Dispatches from the Gulf 2: Research • Innovation • Discovery

GoMRI and Screenscope Films Announce Dispatches from the Gulf 2: Research • Innovation • Discovery – DECEMBER 18, 2017 (From Fall 2017 Newsletter) Contributing Authors: Rebecca Howland and Sam Sheline The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI), the GoMRI Research Board, and Screenscope Films are pleased to announce the release of Dispatches from the Gulf…

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Grad Student Hoover Examines How Freshwater Discharge Affects Gulf Larval Fish

Angie Hoover wants to know how large freshwater pulses and other environmental stressors affect the diet, growth, and condition of larval fishes. “The main motivation behind my work is to do something that betters the planet,” said Angie. “There is a lot of anthropogenic-sourced stress on the Earth, and I want to provide data and information that can help mitigate these issues.”

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Study Uses Fiddler Crabs and Periwinkle Snails to Monitor Long-Term Marsh Health after Oil Spill

Researchers in Florida and Louisiana extended a Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA) of fiddler crabs and periwinkle snails after the Deepwater Horizon incident to assess marsh recovery from oiling. The team found that fiddler crabs, the more mobile of the two species, had mostly recovered by 30 months in terms of size, density, and species composition.

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Sea Grant Releases Fact Sheet on Beach, Water, and Seafood Safety after Oil Spill

The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) is pleased to announce a new Sea Grant publication that addresses the public’s questions about health safety after the Deepwater Horizon incident. The fact sheet, Is it Safe? Examining Health Risks from the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill succinctly explains findings from peer-reviewed studies and reports from state and federal agencies that investigated the safety of the beach, water, and seafood since the spill.

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Grad Student Snider Examines Seaside Sparrows Diet for Food Web Impacts from Oiling

Seaside Sparrows live and forage in coastal Gulf of Mexico marshlands, some of which were oiled following the Deepwater Horizon incident. Sparrows in these oiled marshes likely ingested invertebrates that were also exposed to oil. Allison Snider uses DNA analyses to investigate potential long-term changes in the diets of Seaside Sparrows following Deepwater Horizon.

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Photo by the research consortium RECOVER (Relationships of Effects of Cardiac Outcomes in fish for Validation of Ecological Risk).

Smithsonian Highlights Research Showing How Fish Get Risky Around Oil

The Smithsonian recently published an article that included research, funded by the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI), that investigated the behavior of fish larvae around oil. The referenced study is of particular interest because the amount of oil used in exposure experiments were at levels recorded in industrialized sections of tropical coral reefs worldwide.

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