This RAPID proposal brings together a collaboration among Universities in states affected by the Deepwater Horizon (DH) oil release. With the millions of gallons of oil released, the use of dispersants and the likelihood of movement of the subsurface oil "bloom" into bays and estuaries, an unprecedented anthropogenic impact on human and natural populations may result. This study will define the physiological and evolutionary impact of the DH oil release using the fish Fundulus grandis, a natural inhabitant of estuaries along the Gulf of Mexico. By applying cutting edge technologies, the genetic effects of man's impact on this environment will be described and, thus, provide the baseline data to document the effect of oil pollution on genetic diversity and effectiveness of remediation in limiting negative biodiversity consequences of the spill.
These data will inform society about the short and long-term impacts of the DH oil spill, which has not been possible prior to the recent innovation in genomic techniques. The application of genomic technology provides insights into the genes affected by DH oil and whether cleanup efforts effectively minimize loss of genetic diversity. Thus, this research should provide the evidence of the effectiveness of BP cleanup efforts. Additionally, by measuring the impact of DH oil on fish genomics, additional information will be gathered regarding the genes that matter for human health. Simply put, by measuring the genes in fish that survive exposure to DH oil, genes that may also be important for human health will be identified.
This research investigated the effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on the Gulf killifish Fundulus grandis. This fish lives in marine estuarine along the Gulf of Mexico and should be good sentinel for how the oil spill affected animals in the marshes along the Gulf. Additionally, because these fish are residents in the marshes and have little migration, the effect of pollutions should be more obvious than in this species than in species that travel long distances. There were two principal approaches used to measure how the oil spill affected the Gulf killifish: how gene expression changed with exposure and if the populations suffered from selected death. Measures of gene expression showed that the killifish were significantly impacted by the oil spill. Yet, these effects appear to be short-lived and very local. Thus, while many sites may have residual oil in the sediment that will continue to affect the marine fauna, these may be very local effects. Additionally, there are few changes in the population biology of this species that suggest long-term effects. Educational activities: Undergraduates and graduate students, as well as post-doctoral fellows were involved in this research. Their education was enhanced by being involved in fieldwork, genomic studies and learning how to use large scale genomic data to answer questions about the effect of pollution on natural populations.
