Accelerated marsh erosion following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill confirmed, ameliorated by planting.

Multiple studies have examined the effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill on coastal marsh shoreline erosion. Most studies have concluded that the spill increased shoreline erosion (linear retreat) in oiled marshes by ~ 100-200% for at least 2-3 years. However, two studies have called much of this prior research into question, due to potential study design flaws and confounding factors, primarily tropical cyclone influences and differential wave exposure between oiled (impact) and unoiled (reference) sites.

Meta-analysis of salt marsh vegetation impacts and recovery: a synthesis following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Marine oil spills continue to be a global issue, heightened by spill events such as the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the largest marine oil spill in US waters and among the largest worldwide, affecting over 1,000 km of sensitive wetland shorelines, primarily salt marshes supporting numerous ecosystem functions. To synthesize the effects of the oil spill on foundational vegetation species in the salt marsh ecosystem, Spartina alterniflora and Juncus roemerianus, we performed a meta-analysis using data from 10 studies and 255 sampling sites over seven years post-spill. We examined the hypotheses that the oil spill reduced plant cover, stem density, vegetation height, aboveground biomass, and belowground biomass, and tracked the degree of effects temporally to estimate recovery time frames.

Intraspecific variation in landform engineering across a restored salt marsh shoreline.

Ecosystem engineers that modify landforms can be valuable tools for restoring habitat, but their use has frequently resulted in unanticipated outcomes. Departures from expectations might arise because applications discount the possibility that geomorphic processes are influenced by heritable phenotypic variation. We conducted a field-scale common garden experiment to assess whether shoreline erosion reflects intraspecific variation in the landform engineer .

Recovery of the salt marsh periwinkle (Littoraria irrorata) 9 years after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill: Size matters.

Prior studies indicated salt marsh periwinkles (Littoraria irrorata) were strongly impacted in heavily oiled marshes for at least 5 years following the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Here, we detail longer-term effects and recovery over nine years. Our analysis found that neither density nor population size structure recovered at heavily oiled sites where snails were smaller and variability in size structure and density was increased.