Abstract:

Data on the response of wetland vegetation metrics to oiling from Deepwater Horizon between 2010 and 2017 was acquired. Datasets were gathered from various sources including publicly available datasets from GoMRI-GRIIDC, the Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA), and others, as well as literature from other published and unpublished studies. Data acquisition was completed in 2018.

Suggested Citation:

Zengel, Scott, Irving Mendelssohn, Sean Graham, John Fleeger, David Johnson, and Donald R. Deis. 2020. Synthesis of wetland vegetation response to oiling. Distributed by: GRIIDC, Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. doi:10.7266/n7-cn03-z792

Publications:

Zengel, S., Weaver, J., Mendelssohn, I. A., Graham, S. A., Lin, Q., Hester, M. W., Willis, J. M., Silliman, B. R., Fleeger, J. W., McClenachan, G., Rabalais, N. N., Turner, R. E., Hughes, A. R., Cebrian, J., Deis, D. R., Rutherford, N., & Roberts, B. J. (2021). Meta‐analysis of salt marsh vegetation impacts and recovery: a synthesis following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Ecological Applications, 32(1). Portico. https://doi.org/10.1002/eap.2489

Purpose:

This dataset was created for use in a meta-analysis of wetland vegetation responses to oiling.

Data Parameters and Units:

The headers are- Source Primary= investigator associated with the dataset; Site ID= Site ID (originates from dataset); Site type= Oiling site classification; Site type (HO)= Oiling site classification for heavily oiled analysis. Site not included in the 'heavily oiled' dataset have 'NA' values; Marsh Zone= Location of site relative to marsh edge: Zone 1 is approximately 0-6m from the seaward edge and represents the area of heaviest oiling; Zone 2 is inland zone 1 (roughly 6-15m from the marsh edge) and represents areas that were oiled; Year= Year of data collection; SpartinaCover= Spartina percent cover; JuncusCover=Juncus percent cover; TotalCover= Total vegetation percent cover; VegHeight= Vegetation height (cm); SpartinaDensity= Spartina stem density (stems/m2); JuncusDensity= Juncus stem density (stems/m2); TotalDensity= Total stem density (stems/m2); SpartinaAG= Spartina aboveground biomass density (g/m2); JuncusAG= Juncus aboveground biomass density (g/m2); LiveAG= Total live aboveground biomass density (g/m2); BGbiomass= Belowground biomass (g/m2)

Methods:

Data was obtained from publicly available repositories, published literature, and from authors/investigators. Values presented here are aggregated by site/year/zone/study combination. If a site was sampled multiple times per year, fall results were used for the analysis. Dataset includes unpublished data provided by the authors. Please refer to original studies for information on sampling methods or raw data.

Error Analysis:

Data were inspected for abnormalities prior to analysis.

Provenance and Historical References:

Hester, Mark W., Jonathan M. Willis, Shahrokh Rouhani, Marla A. Steinhoff, and Mary C. Baker. 2016. Impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on the salt marsh vegetation of Louisiana. Environmental Pollution 216: 361-370. DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2016.05.065. Silliman, Brian R., Johan van de Koppel, Michael W. McCoy, Jessica Diller, Gabriel N. Kasozi, Kamala Earl, Peter N. Adams, Andrew R. Zimmerman. 2012. Degradation and resilience in Louisiana salt marshes after the BP-Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Proceedings of the National Academy of sciences of the United States of America 109: 11234-11239. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1204922109 Willis, Jonathan M., Mark W. Hester, Shahrokh Rouhani, Marla A. Steinhoff, and Mary C. Baker. 2016. Field assessment of the impacts of Deepwater Horizon oiling on coastal marsh vegetation of Mississippi and Alabama. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, 35(11): 2791–2797. DOI: 10.1002/etc.3450 Zengel Scott, Brittany M. Bernik Nicolle Rutherford, Zachary Nixon, and Jacqueline Michel. 2015. Heavily Oiled Salt Marsh following the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, Ecological Comparisons of Shoreline Cleanup Treatments and Recovery. PLOS ONE 10(7): e0132324. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0132324 Zengel Scott, Clay L. Montague, Steven C. Pennings, Sean P. Powers, Marla Steinhoff, Gail French Fricano, Claire Schlemme, Mengni Zhang, Jacob Oehrig, Zachary Nixon, Shahrokh Rouhani, and Jacqueline Michel. 2016. Impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on salt marsh periwinkles (Littoraria irrorata). Environmental Science Technology 50(2):643-652. DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.5b04371

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