Abstract:

The dataset contains raw still images of oil droplet/mucus aggregates from jellyfish as well as oil droplets in the surrounding water column. Also included are the resulting processed images identifying location, number and size of oil droplets used in the manuscript analysis. The dataset also includes spreadsheets with data from the resulting images as well as spreadsheets with data on bacterial counts and total alkanes (hydrocarbons) measured during experiments. This dataset supports the publication Gemmell, B. J., Bacosa, H. Lui, Z., Buskey, E. J. 2016. Can gelatinous zooplankton influence the fate of crude oil in marine environments? Marine Pollution Bulletin. In Press. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2016.08.065

Suggested Citation:

Brad Gemmell. 2016. Presence of gelatinous zooplankton enhances the rate of hydrocarbon degradation. Distributed by: GRIIDC, Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. doi:10.7266/N71834JF

Publications:

Gemmell, B. J., Bacosa, H. P., Liu, Z., & Buskey, E. J. (2016). Can gelatinous zooplankton influence the fate of crude oil in marine environments? Marine Pollution Bulletin. doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2016.08.065

Purpose:

To understand how the presence of gelatinous zooplankton could impact the fate of crude oil during a spill.

Data Parameters and Units:

Oil droplet data is quantified by area (pixels) from the photographs; total area (pixels); area of mucus (pixels); oil in water area (pixels); Total Alkanes are given in mg per L; Bacterial counts are given in number of cells per mL; time (days). Figure 1. Aurelia aurita as it swims through a dilute suspension of crude oil. Note the shedding of mucus (yellow/orange material) embedded with oil droplets (dark objects) at many times the density of the water column. Scale bar = 1 cm. Incubation experiments used 2 mL of mucus and 0.5 mL of oil in 20 mL of seawater. Ratios of mucus to seawater is 1:10 and 1:40 for oil and seawater.

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