Simulating oil-driven abundance changes in benthic marine invertebrates using an ecosystem model

Field studies showed that benthic macrofauna and meiofauna abundances increased with sediment oil concentration in areas affected by the Deepwater Horizon (DWH) oil spill. Benthic invertebrate biomass shows a dome-shaped relationship with respect to petrogenic hydrocarbon concentrations suggesting a positive effect on biomass at low-to-medium oil concentrations and a negative effect at high concentrations. If this is due to enrichment of the benthic food web, then this adds to an emerging picture of a food web response over a large spatial area with both abundance increases and decreases as a result of DWH. We would be obliged to consider long term multispecies effects beyond the initial pulse disturbance in modeling impacts and recovery of economically valuable species. An Atlantis ecosystem model of the Gulf of Mexico is used to simulate three mechanisms that could explain observed changes in the invertebrate community. Scenario 1 is that stimulation of surface primary productivity occurred as a result of nutrient loading caused by diversion of Mississippi River water into Barataria Bay (a mitigation action taken during the DWH oil spill). Scenario 2 is that enrichment of the benthos occurred due to detrital loading from marine oil snow sedimentation and flocculent accumulation (MOSSFA). Scenario 3 is that predator declines and/or avoidance of oiled areas caused a release of predation mortality on benthic invertebrates. Scenario 2 (MOSSFA) stimulated the detritus-driven food web and was best able to cause a net increase in invertebrate biomass despite a realistic amount of oil toxicity. Scenario 3 (predator release) plausibly could have contributed to changes in benthic invertebrates. Scenario 1 (nutrient loading) had little impact on the benthos suggesting the benthic food web is decoupled from local pelagic production sources.