The British Petroleum Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico will impact the northeastern Gulf of Mexico and larger regions of Earth's ecosystem in an unprecedented way. The scientific community can contribute invaluable information regarding the conditions of affected ecosystems prior the spill. This information will be crucial to ongoing and future damage assessment, clean up, mitigation and restoration over the coming weeks, months, years, and decades.
The Ecological Society of America has set up a data registry system http://www.esa.org/mdc/in which anyone with information about ecological or environmental conditions along the coastal ecosystems of the four affected states (LA, MS, AL, and FL) ) can upload metadata and help build a database documenting ecological states and conditions before the spill. This database will be searchable by place and time, taxa or physico-chemical variables monitored, ecosystem type, etc. Those scientists contributing their metadata and their contact information will agree to share their information with scientists and managers on the front line of assessment, mitigation, or restoration efforts. ESA graduate student leaders Jorge Ramos and Rob Salguero-Gomez will follow up with the contact person for more information, if needed. Please help us by submitting your information and notifying colleagues about this effort. If you would like to submit photographs, please upload them to the ESAStudentSection picasa photo account (http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/view?q=ESAStudentSection&psc=G&filter=1#5478442790476145826). Link to data registry website: http://www.esa.org/mdc/ For more information please contact: Jorge Ramos and Rob Salguero-Gomez at esastudentsect...@gmail.com or Nadine Lymn (nad...@esa.org) ESA is grateful to the following individuals who made this initiative possible: Rob Salguero-Gomez (Chair, ESA Student Section), Jorge Ramos (Leader, ESA SEEDS Network), Zaw Aung, ESA Webmaster, and Mark Stromberg and the UC Natural Reserve System, which provided ESA with a database template for this effort. Nadine Lymn Director of Public Affairs Ecological Society of America 1990 M Street, NW Suite 700 Washington DC 20036 202.833.8773 ext. 205 202.833.8775 Fax Please consider the environment before printing this email. Thank you.
