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nwf.org

Environmental campaign group finds ongoing symptoms of oil exposure in 14 species – from oysters to dolphins

theguardian.com - by Suzanne Goldenberg - April 9, 2014

The BP oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico caused dangerous after-effects to more than a dozen different animals from dolphins to oysters, a report from an environmental campaign group said on Tuesday.

Four years after the oil disaster, some 14 species showed symptoms of oil exposure, the report from the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) said.

"The oil is not gone. There is oil on the bottom of the gulf, oil washing up on the beach and there is oil in the marshes," Doug Inkley, senior scientist for NWF, told a conference call.

Mark Conlin / Getty Images

huffingtonpost.com - by Dominique Mosbergen - February 18, 2014

Last week, a study published in the Feb. 14 issue of Science revealed the Deepwater Horizon disaster may have caused serious damage to the hearts of tuna and other animals affected by the spill.

Indeed, scientists behind the new study say their findings may have implications on mammal hearts, including those of humans.

Since PAHs can also be found in coal tar, air pollution and stormwater runoff from land, the risk to humans and other animals is potentially tremendous, the scientists say.

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CLICK HERE - STUDY - Science - Crude Oil Impairs Cardiac Excitation-Contraction Coupling in Fish

Less oxygen dissolved in the water is often referred to as a dead zone? (in red above) because most marine life either dies, or, if they are mobile such as fish, leave the area. / NOAA

marcoislandflorida.com - USA Today - by Dan Vergano - June 19, 2013

Environmental biologists foresee a record-size “dead zone” for the Gulf of Mexico this summer, a New Jersey-sized patch of water deadly to marine life, federal officials announced. 

Seen every year off the Texas and Louisiana coasts, the zone forms largely because of fertilizer runoff from the Corn Belt flowing down the Mississippi, where the nutrients spur the growth of the algal blooms that remove oxygen from the water in the Gulf. The especially large size this year of the predicted zone, perhaps 8,500 square miles, appears to be tied to Midwestern floods that washed more nutrients into the river.

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There are many definitions of resilience from simple deterministic views of resilience anchored in Newtonian mechanics to far more dynamic views of resilience from a systems perspective, including insights from quantum mechanics and the sciences of complexity.  One baseline perspective of resilience sees it in terms of the viability of socio-ecological systems as the foundation for sustainability.  For those that are ready to look beyond resilience as the ability to return to the "normal state" before a disaster, take a look at:

http://www.resalliance.org/