Monthly Archives: November 2017

CWCGoMRI StudentsPeople Grad Student Snider Examines Seaside Sparrows Diet for Food Web Impacts from Oiling Allison holds a Seaside Sparrow after a muddy day in the field. (Photo credit: Anna Perez-Umphrey)

Seaside Sparrows live and forage in coastal Gulf of Mexico marshlands, some of which were oiled following the Deepwater Horizon incident. Sparrows in these oiled marshes likely ingested invertebrates that were also exposed to oil. Allison Snider uses DNA analyses to investigate potential long-term changes in the diets of Seaside Sparrows following Deepwater Horizon. She hopes that her findings will Read More

ADDOMExGoMRI StudentsPeople Grad Student Shi Uses Chemical Fingerprinting to Investigate Oil in the Water Column David uses mesocosms to simulate conditions in the natural ocean environment. (Photo credit: ADDOMEx)

Crude oil contains tens of thousands of hydrocarbons, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) that create unique chemical fingerprints for different types of oil. Dawei “David” Shi uses geochemical analysis techniques in mesocosm studies to track these fingerprints, observe how they change over time, and investigate how dispersant affects PAH concentrations in the water column. David Read More