Abstract:
This dataset contains a comprehensive list of approximately 1670 marine fishes including all known bony and cartilaginous species in the Gulf of Mexico. For each species, a number of life history traits used to rank each species likelihood of exposure, individual sensitivity and population resilience are provided, along with an overall petrochemical vulnerability score based on the ranking scheme described in the metadata document.
Suggested Citation:
Polidoro, Beth. 2021. Species-specific data and petrochemical vulnerability rankings for marine fishes in the Gulf of Mexico. Distributed by: GRIIDC, Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi. doi:10.7266/n7-wctg-8y41
Purpose:
To provide a comprehensive list of biological and ecological traits of marine fishes in the Gulf of Mexico, a trait-based ranking framework for estimating species' petrochemical vulnerabilities, and a relative final petrochemical vulnerability score.
Methods:
The original, multi-taxonomic petrochemical vulnerability framework identified 18 species traits,
grouped into three categories: 9 traits related to likelihood of petrochemical exposure, 5 traits related to
species sensitivity, and 4 traits related to population resilience (Polidoro et al. 2020). After extensive
trait data collection for the more than 1670 marine fishes present in the Gulf of Mexico, and multiple
sensitivity analyses, six traits remained that could be adequately scored, each of which was scored from
1 to 5, with 1 being the least vulnerable and 5 the most vulnerable.
A. Distribution. Shapefiles of US and Mexican oil platforms, pipelines, and land-based storage
infrastructure were obtained from the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM, www.boem.gov),
Centro Nacional de Información de Hidrocarburos (CNIH, mapa.hidrocarburos.gob.mx), and the
Homeland Infrastructure Foundation-Level Data (HIFLD) and analyzed in the spatial software ArcMap
10.7. In ArcMap, kernel densities were used to translate infrastructure occurrence and frequency into
an exposure risk surface, based on expected frequency of occurrence within a given area using a 50km
radius of an average spill event. Kernel density raster surfaces were developed separately for oil
platforms, and land-based infrastructures were limited to those occurring within 5 km of the shoreline.
Each surface was then normalized from 0 to 1 with the maximum value across all surfaces calculated as
Max Oil Exposure (Figure 1 below). To estimate the relative intensity of petrochemical activity present
within each species distribution, zonal statistics were used to summarize
B. Habitat Preferred primary habitat classifications obtained from the IUCN Red List of Threatened
Species for each fish species were scored as a 5 if at least one of the preferred habitats was classified as
epipelagic (+ 200 m), benthic (i.e. rocky, sandy, muddy substrate), estuarine, mangroves, or marshes; or
was a species that exhibited diel migrations. If the species was not considered present in any of these
habitats, the species was scored 1, and species with unknown habitat classifications were assigned a
score of 3. Additionally, if the species’ most sensitive pre-adult stage (such as larvae or eggs) was
present in one of the above habitats, an additional point was scored.
C: Individual Sensitivity Due to UV Light. Species with a habitat classification of epipelagic or that
exhibited migration to the surface during the day were given the highest sensitivity score of 5, otherwise
the species was assigned a score of 1. Species with an unknown habitat classification scored 3. If the
species’ most sensitive pre-adult stage was also epipelagic, in addition to or despite of the adult, an
additional point was scored.
D. Abundance. Rare species were scored 5, Occasional scored 4, Uncommon or Unknown scored 3,
Common scored 2, and Abundant scored 1.
E. Reproductive Turnover Rate. Species with a generation length and/or population doubling time (PDT)
greater than 20 years were scored a 5. Species with a generation length of 10-20 years and/or a PDT of
8-18 years scored 4. Species with generation length of 5-10 years and/or PDT of 3-7 years scored 3,
species with a generation length of 1-5 years or PDT of 1-2 years scored 2, and species with a generation
length or PDT of less than 1 year scored 1. Species with unknown PDT scored 3.
F. Diet and Habitat Specialization. Species were scored 5 if they consumed only one type of
invertebrate or one type of fish and occurred only in one type of habitat. Species scored 4 if they
consumed only one type of invertebrate or one type of fish and occurred in 2 or more habitat types.
Species scored 3 if they consumed multiple types of invertebrates or fishes, and occurred in only one
habitat type. Species scored 2 if they consumed multiple types of invertebrates or fishes, and occurred
in 2 or more habitats. Species scored 1 if they had a diet of multiple types of invertebrates and fishes,
regardless of the number of habitat types. Species with both unknown habitat and diet scored 3.
Calculation of Final Petrochemical Vulnerability Scores: Final petrochemical vulnerability index scores
were calculated for each fish species by summing the scores for each of the traits, for a minimum
possible score of 6 and maximum possible score of 32.
Provenance and Historical References:
Polidoro, Beth, Cole W. Matson, Mary Ann Ottinger, D. Abigail Renegar, Isabel C. Romero, Daniel Schlenk, John Pierce Wise Sr., Jesus Beltran González, Peter Bruns, Kent Carpenter, Dorka Cobian Rojas, Tracy K. Collier, Thomas F. Duda Jr., Patricia Gonzalez-Diaz, Richard DI Giulio, R. Dean Grubbs, J. Christopher Haney, John P. Incardona, Guillermo Horta-Puga, Christi Linardich, Jon A. Moore, Daniel Pech, Susana Perera Valderrama, Gina M. Ralph, Kyle Strongin, Amy H. Ringwood, and Bernd Wursig. 2021. A multi-taxonomic framework for assessing relative petrochemical vulnerability of marine biodiversity in the Gulf of Mexico. Science of The Total Environment, 763, p.142986. DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.142986
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