the species we study is called smooth
cordgrass and it’s the foundational
species along the coast of the northern
Gulf of Mexico and along the Atlantic
coast this species is incredibly
important for building land and keeping
land from falling into the sea
we went out to several sites that
received heavy oiling after the spill we
found that the bacterial community
inside the tissues of plants shifted to
incorporate more bacteria that are
important for breaking down oil this is
also really important because our
collaborators have found that there’s
also oil inside of the plant tissues
that still needs to be broken down so
it’s possible that these bacterial
shifts are going to be important for
continuing to clean up the oil spill
inside of the plant this is Bay Jimmy it
was one of the worst impacted areas
after the Deepwater Horizon spill and we
used the shoreline to test different
strategies for remediating the oil for
removing it from the surface and after
remediation I went in and planted
spartina along the shoreline in
different plots to compare what rates of
erosion were like using different
planted varieties versus leaving them
unplanted after remediation this stake
right here is the back of a plot that we
set up in 2011 where we are comparing
planting versus not planting and the
plot extended 15 feet towards the water
and then in front of the plot was an
additional 15 feet and all that’s gone
now so since 2011 we have 30 feet of
erosion up until the stake respective
spartina alterniflora is it’s a very
powerful ecosystem engineer which means
that it physically impacts this entire
ecosystem so just the presence of the
marsh here is dependent on the ability
of spartina to hold the substrate in
place
well the elegance of focusing on Sparta
China is that whether we’re here in the
Gulf or on the Atlantic or on the
Pacific they’re spart tuna everywhere
some sports have been artificially
introduced and have proven to be
problematic but the NATO spartina and
other congeners and related species that
sort of a similar function that
effectively engineer coastlines can
serve similar purpose
so now we’re taking a closer look at
these bacterial communities living
symbiotically inside of root tissue to
see if we can identify which bacteria
are the best at biodegrading oil inside
of plant tissue and what we’d like to do
is identify the best bacteria that we
can use to inoculate plants in the
future that are going to be used for
restoration purposes so instead of just
putting a plant out there we’re going to
put out a plant bacterial combination
and that combination of organisms is
going to help clean up oil faster
cordgrass and it’s the foundational
species along the coast of the northern
Gulf of Mexico and along the Atlantic
coast this species is incredibly
important for building land and keeping
land from falling into the sea
we went out to several sites that
received heavy oiling after the spill we
found that the bacterial community
inside the tissues of plants shifted to
incorporate more bacteria that are
important for breaking down oil this is
also really important because our
collaborators have found that there’s
also oil inside of the plant tissues
that still needs to be broken down so
it’s possible that these bacterial
shifts are going to be important for
continuing to clean up the oil spill
inside of the plant this is Bay Jimmy it
was one of the worst impacted areas
after the Deepwater Horizon spill and we
used the shoreline to test different
strategies for remediating the oil for
removing it from the surface and after
remediation I went in and planted
spartina along the shoreline in
different plots to compare what rates of
erosion were like using different
planted varieties versus leaving them
unplanted after remediation this stake
right here is the back of a plot that we
set up in 2011 where we are comparing
planting versus not planting and the
plot extended 15 feet towards the water
and then in front of the plot was an
additional 15 feet and all that’s gone
now so since 2011 we have 30 feet of
erosion up until the stake respective
spartina alterniflora is it’s a very
powerful ecosystem engineer which means
that it physically impacts this entire
ecosystem so just the presence of the
marsh here is dependent on the ability
of spartina to hold the substrate in
place
well the elegance of focusing on Sparta
China is that whether we’re here in the
Gulf or on the Atlantic or on the
Pacific they’re spart tuna everywhere
some sports have been artificially
introduced and have proven to be
problematic but the NATO spartina and
other congeners and related species that
sort of a similar function that
effectively engineer coastlines can
serve similar purpose
so now we’re taking a closer look at
these bacterial communities living
symbiotically inside of root tissue to
see if we can identify which bacteria
are the best at biodegrading oil inside
of plant tissue and what we’d like to do
is identify the best bacteria that we
can use to inoculate plants in the
future that are going to be used for
restoration purposes so instead of just
putting a plant out there we’re going to
put out a plant bacterial combination
and that combination of organisms is
going to help clean up oil faster
Please follow and like us: