Abstract:

Macroinfauna species data from oil-impacted and reference salt marshes in Barataria Bay, Louisiana. Samples were collected from 2011-2018 from 21 sites located over an area 8 km × 5 km, between coordinates N 29.44060°and 29.47459°, W 89.88492° and 89.94647°. Long-term sites consisted of replicated (n = 7) salt marsh shorelines designated as “reference” (RF, no visible oiling), “moderately oiled” (MD), or “heavily oiled” (HV). A hand-held corer was used to take two sediment cores to a depth of 2 cm from each plot. Both cores were combined into a single sample cup and fixed in 4% formalin in the field. Cups were shaken to break up soil clumps and to mix with formalin. In the laboratory, samples were sieved through a 500 µm sieve stacked on top of a 63 µm sieve. All material, including roots, rhizomes and macrofauna, retained on both sieves was preserved for analysis of macroinfauna.

Suggested Citation:

John Fleeger and David Johnson. 2020. Macroinfauna abundance and diversity after Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, 2011-10-20 to 2018-10-30. Distributed by: GRIIDC, Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. doi:10.7266/SE1QQV6Z

Publications:

Fleeger, J. W., Johnson, D. S., Zengel, S., Mendelssohn, I. A., Deis, D. R., Graham, S. A., … Pant, M. (2020). Macroinfauna responses and recovery trajectories after an oil spill differ from those following saltmarsh restoration. Marine Environmental Research, 155, 104881. doi:10.1016/j.marenvres.2020.104881

Purpose:

To determine the recovery of benthic macroinvertebrates such as polychaetes and amphipods that live in the sediment from the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.

Data Parameters and Units:

Oil_level (HV= Heavily Oiled, MD= Medium Oil, RF=Reference), Oil_level_site (Site designation within oiling levels), Months after spill (Months after the oil spill that samples were taken), Date (day, month and year samples were taken; MM/DD/YYYY), Short- or Long-Term (Samples taken as part of the long-term sampling or short-term sampling), ID (Unique identifier). Numbers presented are counts of individuals per composite sample (two cores of 3.5 cm diameter equal one composite sample). Please note NA = sample was lost and data not available. The taxonomic groupings with color codes are- Annelids (Orange), Amphipods (Yellow), Tanaids (Slate Grey), Crab/Cumacean/Barnacle (Red), Isopods (Dark Green), Chelicerates (e.g., spiders) (Bronze Brown), Insects (Blue), Bivalves (Violet), Gastropods (Light Green), Cnidarian (Grey), Flatworms (White)

Methods:

At each marsh, a hand-held corer (inner diameter = 3.5 cm) was used to take two sediment cores to a depth of 2 cm from each plot. Both cores were combined into a single sample cup and fixed in 4% formalin in the field. Cups were shaken to break up soil clumps and to mix with formalin. In the laboratory, samples were sieved through a 500 µm sieve. All material, including roots, rhizomes and macrofauna, retained on both sieves were preserved for analysis of macroinfauna. A stereomicroscope was used to identify and count macroinfauna (individuals retained on the 500 µm sieve). When possible, organisms were identified to species or given a nominal name.

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