Five months after the accident, University researchers continue to secure funding and conduct experiments concerning the BP well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico.
 
“[We don’t know] the chronic and long-term impacts of this spill, and we are doing research to understand,” said Kim de Mutsert, a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences.
 
De Mutsert is studying the effect of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on brown shrimp growth and mortality in Louisiana estuaries. She spoke with three other University  researchers Friday during the second lecture of the School of the Coast and Environment’s weekly fall seminar series.
De Mutsert said brown shrimp are particularly vulnerable to the polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, created during oil spills. When the April 20 blowout occurred, de Mutsert said these shrimp were drifting offshore as part of a spawning cycle.
 
Crystal Johnson, assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences, discussed her research on the ability of natural bacteria in marine fisheries to adapt to environmental changes, like the presence of oil. Johnson said she is investigating how a certain pathogenicity island, or “lagniappe gene,” has helped bacteria adapt to changes before and after the BP accident.
 
Christopher Green, assistant professor of aquaculture at the Aquaculture Research Station in the LSU AgCenter, said he is researching the effects of dispersants such as COEXIT, which was used after the recent blowout, on Gulf killifish.
 
Green said he uses varying salinities and other factors coupled with increases of dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate, or DSS, to test the impact of the compound on Gulf killifish at three ages.
 
Bill Stickle, a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences, said he is researching the impact of the oil leak on eastern oysters and is working to secure additional funding.
 
The SCE fall seminar series continues Sept. 24 at 11:30 a.m. in the Dalton Woods Auditorium with Robert Carney’s presentation, “Deepwater Benthic Ecology in a Naturally and Otherwise Oiled Marginal Basin.”
 
 
 
 
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Contact Nicholas Persac at [email protected]