A multi-taxonomic framework for assessing relative petrochemical vulnerability of marine biodiversity in the Gulf of Mexico

Polidoro, Beth; Matson, Cole W.; Ottinger, Mary Ann; Renegar, Dorothy-Ellen A.; Romero, Isabel C.; Schlenk, Daniel; Wise, John Pierce; González, Jesús Beltrán; Bruns, Peter C.; Carpenter, Kent E.; Rojas, Dorka Cobián; Collier, Tracy K.; Duda, Thomas F.; González‐Díaz, Patricia; Giulio, Richard Di; Grubbs, R. Dean; Haney, J. Christopher; Incardona, John P.; Horta‐Puga, Guillermo; Linardich, Christi; Moore, Jon A.; Pech, Daniel; Perera‐Valderrama, Susana; Ralph, Gina M.; Strongin, Kyle; Ringwood, Amy H.; Würsig, Bernd

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.142986

Cited by 16 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 93 publications

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“…Further studies are needed to determine the source, transport pathways, ecological impacts and subsequent mitigation strategies for these and the other contaminants detected in American Samoan near-shore marine environments. Given the enormity of this task and the limited amount of data available on specific toxicological thresholds for most marine species and ecosystems, the impacts of microplastics and organic contaminants on marine populations and ecosystems could potentially be examined more efficiently within a trait-based risk assessment framework that ranks species' relative vulnerabilities to contaminants (Polidoro et al 2020).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A screening-level human health risk assessment for microplastics and organic contaminants in near-shore marine environments in American Samoa

Polidoro

Lewis

Clement

2022

Heliyon

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A screening-level human health risk assessment for microplastics and organic contaminants in near-shore marine environments in American Samoa

Polidoro

Lewis

Clement

2022

Heliyon

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“…First, as part of the expert group (coauthors), we derived an initial list of life‐history traits that likely determine a species' vulnerability to stressors from multiple anthropogenic activities, either by conferring sensitivity to specific stressors or limiting adaptive capacity (Butt & Gallagher, 2018). In developing this list, we considered the following trait groups hypothesized to be important factors in determining species' vulnerability to stressors (Chessman, 2013; Comte & Olden, 2017; Foden et al, 2013; Lee et al, 2015; Polidoro et al, 2020): movement, reproduction, specialization, spatial scale metrics, and biophysical traits.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A trait‐based framework for assessing the vulnerability of marine species to human impacts

et al. 2022

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Marine species and ecosystems are widely affected by anthropogenic stressors, ranging from pollution and fishing to climate change. Comprehensive assessments of how species and ecosystems are impacted by anthropogenic stressors are critical for guiding conservation and management investments. Previous global risk or vulnerability assessments have focused on marine habitats, or on limited taxa or specific regions. However, information about the susceptibility of marine species across a range of taxa to different stressors everywhere is required to predict how marine biodiversity will respond to human pressures.We present a novel framework that uses life-history traits to assess species' vulnerability to a stressor, which we compare across more than 44,000 species from 12 taxonomic groups (classes). Using expert elicitation and literature review, we assessed every combination of each of 42 traits and 22 anthropogenic stressors to calculate each species' or representative species group's sensitivity and adaptive capacity to stressors, and then used these assessments to derive their overall relative vulnerability. The stressors with the greatest potential impact were related to biomass removal (e.g., fisheries), pollution, and climate change. The taxa with the highest vulnerabilities across the range of stressors were mollusks, corals, and echinoderms, while elasmobranchs had the highest vulnerability to fishing-related stressors. Traits likely to confer vulnerability to climate change stressors were related to the presence of calcium carbonate structures, and whether a species exists across the interface of marine, terrestrial, and atmospheric realms. Traits likely to confer vulnerability to pollution stressors were related to planktonic state, organism size, and respiration. Such a replicable, broadly applicable method is useful for informing ocean conservation and management decisions at a range of scales, and the framework is amenable to further testing and improvement. Our framework for assessing the vulnerability of marine species is the first critical step toward generating cumulative human impact maps based on comprehensive assessments of species, rather than habitats.

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“…Again, each selected species was evaluated by each co-author categorizing the 11 attributes, and an overall resilience determination was assigned as noted for vulnerability. Polidoro et al (2020) developed a similar set of attributes describing aspects of combined vulnerability and resilience to hypothetical petrochemical contaminant exposures.…”

Section: Vulnerability-resilience Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

A Synthesis of Deepwater Horizon Impacts on Coastal and Nearshore Living Marine Resources

et al. 2021

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The 2010 Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil blowout in the Gulf of Mexico began on April 20, originating in the deep sea 66 km off the Louisiana coast. By early June, DWH oil had spread to coastal Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and western Florida. An estimated 2,113 km of shoreline were oiled, making DWH the largest marine oil spill in global history by length of affected shoreline. Additionally, a series of oil spill response measures were deployed, including diversions of Mississippi River discharge to forestall oil coming ashore, and the establishment of large-scale fishery closures, with both affecting coastal resources to varying degrees. Here, we review published studies and describe additional analyses evaluating long-term impacts of DWH on coastal/nearshore biological resources. We assembled time-series data collected by state, federal and academic partners on population abundance and environmental conditions to evaluate species and community change. Our study focused on plankton, invertebrates, fishes and dolphins, and 13 “key species” were selected to conduct semi-quantitative vulnerability-resilience (V-R) analyses. At one extreme, early life stages of Gulf Menhaden (Brevoortia patronus) were not affected due to seasonal spawning and larval development preceding the spill. In contrast, demographically independent populations of the common Bottlenose Dolphin, (Tursiops truncatus) suffered a variety of severe and ongoing health effects owing to oil exposure. Virtually all of the heavily oiled salt marsh habitat was in Louisiana, with the majority occurring in Barataria Bay. Multispecies trawl survey abundances declined post-DWH throughout eastern coastal Louisiana but remained stable elsewhere. A regime shift in composition of Barataria Bay trawl survey catches occurred during and following the spill, the persistence of which was associated with long-term reductions in average salinity and increases in water clarity. In some cases, fishery closures were associated with measurable but ephemeral increases in abundance of some targeted and bycatch species. Freshwater flooding of marshes was ineffective in preventing coastal oiling and severely affected benthic euryhaline resources including Eastern Oyster (Crassostrea virginica) and Marsh Periwinkle (Littoraria irrorata). The flooding response measure experiment also indicates the directionality of impacts that further planned water diversions may have on ecological communities of lower Mississippi River basins.

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A multi-taxonomic framework for assessing relative petrochemical vulnerability of marine biodiversity in the Gulf of Mexico

Cited by 16 publications

References 93 publications

A screening-level human health risk assessment for microplastics and organic contaminants in near-shore marine environments in American Samoa

A screening-level human health risk assessment for microplastics and organic contaminants in near-shore marine environments in American Samoa

A trait‐based framework for assessing the vulnerability of marine species to human impacts

A Synthesis of Deepwater Horizon Impacts on Coastal and Nearshore Living Marine Resources

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