Dataset for: The impact of dissolved inorganic nitrogen and phosphorous on responses of microbial plankton to the Texas City “Y” oil spill in Galveston Bay, Texas

A surface water survey and corresponding bioassay experiment was conducted to examine the impact of nutrients on microbial responses to the Texas City “Y” oil spill on March 22, 2015 in Galveston Bay, Texas. On March 25th and March 28th, 2014 surface (1m depth) water samples were collected from 8 stations. Complementary measurements of water temperature and salinity were also taken at each station. Aliquots of collected water were preserved in glass at -20°C for subsequent estimated oil equivalence (EOE), total polycyclic hydrocarbon (PAH), relative PAH, and nutrients, including nitrate (NO3-1), nitrite (NO2-), ammonium (NH4+) and phosphate (Pi), concentration measurements. Nano- and pico-plankton (2-20 um) were enumerated by flow cytometry. Surface water from stations 2 and 3 was used as the initial substrate for bioassay incubations. Water samples were distributed to triplicate pre-autoclaved polycarbonate bottles (1L) and incubated for a 7-day period. Nitrogen (as nitrate) and Pi were added corresponding to standard f/2 medium (https://ncma.bigelow.org/) for nutrient enriched treatments. Incubated water was sampled from each bottle at 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 days for flow cytometric analysis. Additionally, water was preserved at the end of the 7-day incubation for EOE, total PAH, relative PAH and nutrient measurements as described above. In addition, a meta-analysis documenting historical anthropogenic releases of petrochemicals into Galveston Bay, Texas was conducted. This included a compilation of the total number of spills from 1998-2014 and the total volumes of petrochemicals released by each of the spills.