Recent discoveries in samples taken from the Gulf Coast’s white
sands have shown that the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
affected more than just the animals visible to humans. Auburn
University’s Molette Biology Laboratory for Environmental and
Climate Change has performed studies that show microscopic
organisms in the Gulf ’s sand underwent dramatic shifts in their
environment after the oil spill. The communities of organisms
affected are not only responsible for providing nutrients to
sediment and the foundation of the sand, but also are a vital
part of the of the food chain in their environment. Ken
Halanych, professor of biological sciences, co-wrote the study
and has been studying the effects from the oil spill since it
began in 2010. “We’ve been looking at the smaller organisms that
live between sand grains,” Halanych said. “The larger organisms
can leave contaminated areas, but the smaller organisms can’t
get up and swim away so we’ve been trying to see how the oil has
impacted them.” According to th