The USGS Southeast Ecological Science Center (SESC) provides science that supports efforts to understand and assess biological impacts of the Deepwater Horizon Incident in the Gulf of Mexico. Efforts focus on science that builds the capacity of federal, state, and local land and resource managers to make decisions about dealing with those impacts.
Geographers at SESC have compiled maps of wildlife ranges, habitats, and ecosystems of the Gulf Coast to provide information on the location of biological resources in the region. Select threatened and endangered wildlife species are being tracked by SESC biologists to assess near real-time impacts to health and movement patterns. SESC crews conducted rapid assessments of conditions in the Gulf before oil made landfall to gather "pre-oil" baseline data for comparison with "post-oil" conditions. This makes objective analysis of ecosystem conditions possible. Finally, long-term studies of coastal and benthic ecosystems increase manager's capacity for understanding affected ecosystems in the Gulf of Mexico.
Pre-Oil Baseline Data