Exxon Valdez: Example for an Ecosystem

It's hard to know how a specific ecosystem will be affected since this oil spill is so recent. So I researched another oil spill that affected coastal ecosystems: The Exxon-Valdez. The Exxon-Valdez spill happened over 20 years ago in 1989, when an oil tanker hit a reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska. It was the biggest oil spill in history at over 10.8 million US gallons. The spill seeped into the coast, and what it's done now can give us possible insight into how the oil in the Gulf will decay. I am interested specifically in the coasts, not open water, such as the Louisiana coasts. Venice, Louisiana, aptly named for its canals and marshy environment, is where I've specifically looked into because it is estimated to have beached oil within the next few days. The region of Venice resembles a coral or bush, with tiny pockets of water zigzagging into it. Venice is popular for sport fishing and has a huge variety of fish and water birds, such as egrets. The primary producers are mostly marsh plants, such as reeds and tall grasses. Primary consumers include mostly waterborne insects, which are eaten by aquatic mammals and aquatic birds. At the top of the food web would be alligators, as well as the large fish in the estuary environment.

So how will they be effected? Let's look at The Exxon-Valdez. This spill was expected to be much further cleaned up by now, but the truth is, the rate of decay was grossly overestimated. It was supposed to decay by at least 25% a year, but actually is 'weathering' away at a snail's pace of between 3 and 4%, 5 times slower than was estimated by experts. Two aquatic bird species still haven't recovered; clams, mussels, and sea otters aren't bouncing back as much as expected, and the oil has sank into the soil as deep as 10 inches in places. Overall, the area around the Exxon-Valdez has not recovered significantly. There is still oil that still hurts species and it is sinking itself into the environment.

Look at the marsh -- an almost completely wet environment, where water flows through the bottoms of plants and weaves its way over the plain. If oil can sink 10 inches into sand, imagine how it will muck into the detritus at the bottom of a march. Carried by the sea water, the oil will contaminate plants and small organisms that the larger consumers feed off of. The extent of water's involvement in a marsh shows the extent oil will affect it -- immeasurably. The Exxon-Valdez crashed on a shore covered in rocks, but these marshes are nothing but soft soil and gentle grasses. They will be corrupted by the oil.

Just as the director over at the EDF said, we must protect the wetlands. I can't think of a harmless way to help the marsh recover, but the best way to help is to make sure as little oil as possible hits the marsh. Because of the interconnectedness of the marsh, dispersants would most likely push the oil into more of the marsh and push it towards the other ecosystems surrounding the marsh, closer to the 'dry land'. And as we can see by the area in Alaska, recovery isn't quick. Over 20 years later and still the effects are being felt there -- and that was a lightly populated, rocky area. The gulf is heavily traveled by oil tankers, fisherman, and commercial cruises. The gulf is also much hotter, which seems like it may lend to more evaporation of oil. But either way, taking an example from the Exxon-Valdez, poor Venice, Louisiana probably isn't going to be out of this very soon.

Here are some sources I used in writing this