Marsh Loss Due to Cumulative Impacts of Hurricane Isaac and the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in Louisiana
Coastal ecosystems are greatly endangered due to anthropogenic development and climate change. Multiple disturbances may erode the ability of a system to recover from stress if there is little time between disturbance events. We evaluated the ability of the saltmarshes in Barataria Bay, Louisiana, U...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2017-02-01
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| Series: | Remote Sensing |
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| Online Access: | http://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/9/2/169 |
| _version_ | 1818939187241418752 |
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| author | Shruti Khanna Maria J. Santos Alexander Koltunov Kristen D. Shapiro Mui Lay Susan L. Ustin |
| author_facet | Shruti Khanna Maria J. Santos Alexander Koltunov Kristen D. Shapiro Mui Lay Susan L. Ustin |
| author_sort | Shruti Khanna |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Coastal ecosystems are greatly endangered due to anthropogenic development and climate change. Multiple disturbances may erode the ability of a system to recover from stress if there is little time between disturbance events. We evaluated the ability of the saltmarshes in Barataria Bay, Louisiana, USA, to recover from two successive disturbances, the DeepWater Horizon oil spill in 2010 and Hurricane Isaac in 2012. We measured recovery using vegetation indices and land cover change metrics. We found that after the hurricane, land loss along oiled shorelines was 17.8%, while along oil-free shorelines, it was 13.6% within the first 7 m. At a distance of 7–14 m, land loss from oiled regions was 11.6%, but only 6.3% in oil-free regions. We found no differences in vulnerability to land loss between narrow and wide shorelines; however, vegetation in narrow sites was significantly more stressed, potentially leading to future land loss. Treated oiled regions also lost more land due to the hurricane than untreated regions. These results suggest that ecosystem recovery after the two disturbances is compromised, as the observed high rates of land loss may prevent salt marsh from establishing in the same areas where it existed prior to the oil spill. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-20T06:19:45Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-cced035d1a1a41bf9bb5fb2c139f9d35 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2072-4292 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-20T06:19:45Z |
| publishDate | 2017-02-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Remote Sensing |
| spelling | doaj.art-cced035d1a1a41bf9bb5fb2c139f9d352022-12-21T19:50:27ZengMDPI AGRemote Sensing2072-42922017-02-019216910.3390/rs9020169rs9020169Marsh Loss Due to Cumulative Impacts of Hurricane Isaac and the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in LouisianaShruti Khanna0Maria J. Santos1Alexander Koltunov2Kristen D. Shapiro3Mui Lay4Susan L. Ustin5Center for Spatial Technologies and Remote Sensing, University of California, Davis, CA 95618, USADepartment of Innovation, Environmental and Energy Sciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht 3584 ED, The NetherlandsCenter for Spatial Technologies and Remote Sensing, University of California, Davis, CA 95618, USACenter for Spatial Technologies and Remote Sensing, University of California, Davis, CA 95618, USACenter for Spatial Technologies and Remote Sensing, University of California, Davis, CA 95618, USACenter for Spatial Technologies and Remote Sensing, University of California, Davis, CA 95618, USACoastal ecosystems are greatly endangered due to anthropogenic development and climate change. Multiple disturbances may erode the ability of a system to recover from stress if there is little time between disturbance events. We evaluated the ability of the saltmarshes in Barataria Bay, Louisiana, USA, to recover from two successive disturbances, the DeepWater Horizon oil spill in 2010 and Hurricane Isaac in 2012. We measured recovery using vegetation indices and land cover change metrics. We found that after the hurricane, land loss along oiled shorelines was 17.8%, while along oil-free shorelines, it was 13.6% within the first 7 m. At a distance of 7–14 m, land loss from oiled regions was 11.6%, but only 6.3% in oil-free regions. We found no differences in vulnerability to land loss between narrow and wide shorelines; however, vegetation in narrow sites was significantly more stressed, potentially leading to future land loss. Treated oiled regions also lost more land due to the hurricane than untreated regions. These results suggest that ecosystem recovery after the two disturbances is compromised, as the observed high rates of land loss may prevent salt marsh from establishing in the same areas where it existed prior to the oil spill.http://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/9/2/169gulf oil spillremote sensinghyperspectralAVIRIShurricanesaltmarsh |
| spellingShingle | Shruti Khanna Maria J. Santos Alexander Koltunov Kristen D. Shapiro Mui Lay Susan L. Ustin Marsh Loss Due to Cumulative Impacts of Hurricane Isaac and the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in Louisiana Remote Sensing gulf oil spill remote sensing hyperspectral AVIRIS hurricane saltmarsh |
| title | Marsh Loss Due to Cumulative Impacts of Hurricane Isaac and the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in Louisiana |
| title_full | Marsh Loss Due to Cumulative Impacts of Hurricane Isaac and the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in Louisiana |
| title_fullStr | Marsh Loss Due to Cumulative Impacts of Hurricane Isaac and the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in Louisiana |
| title_full_unstemmed | Marsh Loss Due to Cumulative Impacts of Hurricane Isaac and the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in Louisiana |
| title_short | Marsh Loss Due to Cumulative Impacts of Hurricane Isaac and the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill in Louisiana |
| title_sort | marsh loss due to cumulative impacts of hurricane isaac and the deepwater horizon oil spill in louisiana |
| topic | gulf oil spill remote sensing hyperspectral AVIRIS hurricane saltmarsh |
| url | http://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/9/2/169 |
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