Assessing the impacts of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill with a dependable baseline comparison can provide reliable insight into environmental stressors on organisms that were potentially affected by the spill. Fluctuating asymmetry (small, non-random deviations from perfect bilateral symmetry) is an informative metric sensitive to contaminants that can be used to assess environmental stress le...

Genotoxicity studies in Ecuador have been carried out during the past two decades. The focuses of the research were mainly the area of environmental issues, where the populations have been accidentally exposed to contaminants and the area of occupational exposure of individuals at the workplace. This paper includes studies carried out in the population of the Amazon region, a zone known for its...

An oil spill occurred off Goa, west coast of India, on 23 March 2005 due to collision of two vessels. In general, fair weather with weak winds prevails along the west coast of India during March. In that case, the spill would have moved slowly and reached the coast. However, in 2005 when this event occurred, relatively stronger winds prevailed, and these winds forced the spill to move away from...

The Blue Crab, Callinectes sapidus, is a commercially, culturally, and ecologically significant species in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM), whose offshore stages were likely impacted by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill (DWH). To test for DWH effects and to better understand the planktonic ecology of this species, we monitored Callinectes spp. megalopal settlement and condition at sites within and outsi...

We report here the 5.58-Mb draft genome of Pseudomonas putida strain KG-4 obtained from the oil fields of the Krishna-Godavari basin, Andhra Pradesh, India. The genome sequence is expected to facilitate identification and understanding of genes associated with hydrocarbon metabolism, which can help in developing strategies for managing oil spills and bioremediation.

We used an established seagrass monitoring programme to examine the short and longer-term impacts of an oil spill event on intertidal seagrass meadows. Results for potentially impacted seagrass areas were compared with existing monitoring data and with control seagrass meadows located outside of the oil spill area. Seagrass meadows were not significantly affected by the oil spill. Declines in s...

Increasing oil transportation and severe oil accidents in the past have led to the development of various sensitivity maps in different countries all over the world. Often, however, the areas presented on the maps are far too large to be safeguarded with the available oil combating equipment and prioritization is required to decide which areas must be safeguarded. While oil booms can be applied...

Microbes consumed oil rapidly http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/08/ 110801111752.htm In the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, the oil disappeared more rapidly than predicted. This article discusses some of the studies investigating the underlying causes of this rapid biodegradation. Oil spill is boon to bacteria http://classic.the-scientist.com/blog/display/57448/ This ...

Atlantic bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus) are distributed throughout the North Atlantic and are both economically valuable and heavily exploited. The fishery is currently managed as two spawning populations, with the GOM population being severely depleted for over 20 years. In April-August of 2010, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill released approximately 4 million barrels of oil into the GOM, with ...

Many multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) methods have been proposed to handle uncertain decision making problems. Most of them are based on fuzzy numbers and they are not able to cope with risk in decision making. In recent years, some MCDM methods based on prospect theory to handle risk MCDM problems have been developed. In this paper, we propose the Fuzzy TODIM for group decision making, so...