Halmos Researchers Delve into Oil Spill Impacts on Coral Species

This past winter, Halmos College of Arts and Sciences marine science researcher D. Abigail Renegar, Ph.D. with college alumnus Nicholas Turner, Ph.D. published a research paper entitled, “Species Sensitivity Assessment of Five Atlantic Scleractinian Coral Species to 1‑Methylnaphthalene” in Nature’s scientific reports.

This is the first publication of results from the Coral-Tox project, which was funded by the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative. The central objective of this project was to provide a foundation for science-based decision-making regarding oil spill response in coral reef environments.

This paper includes the first published species sensitivity distribution for stony corals, which indicate that the Atlantic staghorn coral, Acropora cervicornis, was the most sensitive to hydrocarbon exposure of the five species tested. As staghorn coral is listed a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, this result is an important consideration in the oil spill response planning process. Future publications from this project will continue to transform our understanding of the impacts of spilled oil in coral reef environments.