Sr Scientist: "rich diversity of species in Gulf” may be replaced with only “JELLYFISH & BACTERIA"

[nashville_brook]

http://www.gainesville.com/article/20100914/ARTICLES/100919661/1118?Title=Panel-says-BP-oil-spill-threatens-Gulf-8217-s-resources

Senior Scientist: “The rich diversity of species in the Gulf” may be replaced with only “JELLYFISH and BACTERIA”
Panel says BP oil spill threatens Gulf’s resources


Florida State University oceanographer Ian MacDonald was one of the first scientists to contradict official estimates of the BP oil spill, correctly saying that more oil was flowing into the Gulf of Mexico than company and government officials had claimed for months after the disaster. He continued questioning the official line Tuesday at the University of Florida, debunking the idea that bacteria had eaten most of the oil. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s official “oil budget” making such claims lacks citations of scientific literature, an outside review of its work and information on the calculations used, he said.

“With no citation, no review and no possibility of replication, it ain’t science,” he said. MacDonald spoke in a panel discussion about the impact of the spill on the region’s natural resources. UF’s Graham Center for Public Service sponsored the event.

Oil-soaked birds may be the iconic image of the BP spill, but marine biologist Edith Widder said equally tragic events occurred offshore out of sight of the public. The spill’s impact extends to aquatic species already on the brink of devastation, she said, such as Atlantic bluefin tuna that spawn in the area affected by the oil. “It isn’t just water. This is part of our living ecosystem,” she said. “And what we have to recognize is this is the life-support system for our planet.”

Widder, senior scientist and CEO at the Ocean Research and Conservation Association, compared the spill to pushing on a light switch. If the switch flips, she said, the rich diversity of species in the Gulf will be replaced by a system in which the only things able to survive are jellyfish and bacteria.

[xchrom]

1. Recommend

[Fumesucker]

2. “With no citation, no review and no possibility of replication, it ain’t science,”

It ain't science, it's propaganda, propaganda from BP and the government that they own.

[nashville_brook]

6. [phone]

[mtnester]

3. The Gulf Dead Zone

Margaret Atwood refers to it as that in The Year of the Flood, which I finished reading a bit ago. She is a psychic if you ask me.

[nashville_brook]

5. atwood has been right-on about many things -- and some i hope she's not right-on about

[DCBob]

4. The "official" line was not that the "bacteria had eaten most of the oil."

They said about half of it had evaporated or was recovered/skimmed/burned. The other half was in the process of being degraded.

It is unfortunate many, even scientists, choose to change facts to fit their argument.