Unusually cold water in the Gulf of Mexico combined with damage
to the food web from the BP oil spill probably caused the
premature deaths of hundreds of dolphins in the region, a new
report concludes. The study, published in the journal PLoS One,
suggests that a perfect storm of events led to the deaths. The
researchers cited three specific stresses: an unusually cold
winter in 2010, the oil spill from April to July of 2010 and an
unusually large and rapid flow of very cold freshwater from
melting snows in January 2011. Such cold water would have been
tolerable to healthy dolphins, they suggested, but many of the
dolphins in the northern Gulf were unhealthy and had thin
blubber layers. Graham A.J. Worthy, a biologist and contributing
author from the University of Central Florida, said the study
was not definitively linking the deaths to the oil spill but
seeking to assemble the various pieces of the puzzle.
“Everything ultimately seems to be linked back to poor body
condition,” he said. “So what would cause