A synthesis of mesocosm experiments results addressing the role of biodiversity on the resistance of coastal ecosystems to oil disturbance

This dataset was generated from a data synthesis of 5 mesocosm experiments conducted by Alabama Center for Ecological Resilience (ACER) researchers that evaluated the effect of biodiversity on oil effects in coastal ecosystems. This dataset is compromised of the elements (i.e., mean, sample size and variance) from each experiment required to conduct a formal meta-analysis of these results. Biodiversity – including genetic, species or functional – can enhance community stability in response to environmental fluctuations or disturbance that are either natural or human-induced. Initial findings from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill found that ecological impacts on coastal ecosystems varied greatly across habitat-type and trophic groups. To date, few studies have tested the influence of local biodiversity on these responses; however, each ACER sub-group conducted mesocosm experiments to evaluate whether biodiversity increased the resistance and/or resilience of coastal ecosystems to oil and dispersant disturbance. These experiments tested diversity effects across a range of habitats – from intertidal wetlands to pelagic open water – and across taxonomic groups (from microbes to fishes). Therefore, our data set is set up to assess how the diversity-disturbance relationship varied across trophic levels, the type of biodiversity tested (e.g. genetic vs. taxonomic), and response metrics including population- (e.g. survival, growth), community- (e.g., secondary production, predation rates) and ecosystem-level processes (e.g. bioturbation, denitrification).