Accidental laboratory

摘要

Up to 700 million litres of oil, plus nearly 7 million litres of dispersant chemicals, all threaten some of the most important marine and coastal habitats of the US. When the leak from the Deepwater Horizon well stopped - for now, at least (see page 4) - on 15 July, it was time to take stock of a grim scene.rnEven as the engineers complete their job, an army of ecologists is gearing up for an arduous campaign to document the damage and chart the eventual recovery. "This is almost like a war footing," says Joseph Torres, a biological oceanographer at the University of South Florida in St Petersburg.