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Science 10 July 1998:
Vol. 281. no. 5374, pp. 190 - 192
DOI: 10.1126/science.281.5374.190
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COASTAL ECOLOGY:
Death by Suffocation in the Gulf of Mexico

David Malakoff

LAFITTE, LOUISIANA--Scientists have traced the origins of a vast hypoxic, or oxygen-poor, region in the Gulf of Mexico to inland fertilizer use; now officials must decide what to do about it. Researchers first documented this periodic "dead zone" off the Mississippi's mouth in the early 1970s, but it wasn't until 1985 that they began to step up research efforts by taking oxygen readings at dozens of offshore stations. Now concern is rising that smaller oxygen-depleted regions off the U.S. coast could also grow. Because the gulf's is one of more than 50 similar oxygen-starved coastal regions worldwide, any steps taken to heal the gulf will be monitored intently across the globe.

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Cadmium affects metabolic responses to prolonged anoxia and reoxygenation in eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica).
I. O. Kurochkin, A. V. Ivanina, S. Eilers, C. A. Downs, L. A. May, and I. M. Sokolova (2009)
Am J Physiol Regulatory Integrative Comp Physiol 297, R1262-R1272
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Geophysics and nutritional science: toward a novel, unified paradigm.
G. Eshel and P. A Martin (2009)
Am. J. Clinical Nutrition 89, 1710S-1716S
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Nitrogen fertilizer: Retrospect and prospect.
C. R. Frink, P. E. Waggoner, and J. H. Ausubel (1999)
PNAS 96, 1175-1180
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