Impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill evaluated using an end-to-end ecosystem model.

ABSTRACT: We use a spatially explicit biogeochemical end-to-end ecosystem model, Atlantis, to simulate impacts from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill and subsequent recovery of fish guilds. Dose-response relationships with expected oil concentrations were utilized to estimate the impact on fish growth and mortality rates. We also examine the effects of fisheries closures and impacts on recruitment. We validate predictions of the model by comparing population trends and age structure before and after the oil spill with fisheries independent data. The model suggests that recruitment effects and fishery closures had little influence on biomass dynamics. However, at the assumed level of oil concentrations and toxicity, impacts on fish mortality and growth rates were large and commensurate with observation

SUBMITTER: Ainsworth CH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5784916 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature