Oil now threatening Gulf’s cradles of biodiversity, its reefs

[marmar]

from Grist:



Oil now threatening Gulf’s cradles of biodiversity, its reefs
by Tom Philpott

17 May 2010 11:02 AM


As corals are particularly susceptible to oil detergents and dispersed oil, the results of these assays rules out the use of any oil dispersant in coral reefs and in their vicinity.
--From a 2007 paper by Israeli researchers, published in The Journal of Environmental Science

Fish under coral reef(USGS photo)After reading those words a few days ago, I became concerned about the deep-water reefs of the northern Gulf of Mexico, known as the Pinnacles. They lie just 25 miles north of the Deepwater Horizon leak, at depths of 230 to 400 feet along the edge of the continental shelf running from the Mississippi Delta to the DeSoto Canyon. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) describes them as a broad band of "drowned reefs" or "fossil reefs," but while the reefs may be "fossil" -- formed several millennia ago, when sea levels were lower -- they remain ecologically vital. Says NOAA:

The Pinnacles are part of a shelf-edge reef complex throughout the Gulf of Mexico and southeastern United States that is considered to be critical spawning habitat for many commercially important species of groupers and snappers, and are home to many species that do not occur on shallow coral reefs such as the Spanish flag and roughtongue bass.

Well, vast plumes of dispersed oil are now hovering over these cradles of biodiversity. Associated Press reports that the dispersed oil is now over the western edge of the Pinnacles.

The reefs face two threats from the oil plumes. The first is oxygen depletion. "These plumes are being eaten by microbes thousands of feet deep, which removes oxygen from the water," AP reports. The article quotes Samantha Joye, a professor of marine sciences at the University of Georgia who says that the abundant deepwater coral in this area "need oxygen. Without it, they can't survive." .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.grist.org/article/Oil-now-threatening-Gulf-reefs/