Media outlets around the nation are working to provide up-to-the-minute information regarding the spill in the Gulf of Mexico, as the oil well from the sunken BP Deepwater Horizon rig spews thousands of gallons of crude into the sea.

Though there has been much emphasis on the economic and environmental effects along the coastlines of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida, little has been mentioned of the natural estuaries that depend upon the filtering power of oysters, allowing ecosystems along the Gulf to function properly.

David Kimbro, a marine biologist from Florida State U., aims to fill in these gaps. Accompanied by a team of scientists, he set out June 1 to develop a better understanding of several significant ecological concepts, in the hope of providing valuable research in order to assist with restoration.

“In the Grass, On the Reef,” the personal blog of Kimbro and his fellow scientists, outlines their mission. They are studying “why more oysters survive in certain locations and how these oysters affect nutrient cycling differently in different locations,” according to the blog. “Then we can better target our restoration dollars when trying to recover the other 90 percent of our oyster reefs, thereby getting the biggest bang for our buck.”

Kimbro states the oysters are the key to answering more questions about how to protect other reefs.

“Because 90 percent of the oyster reefs in the world were either eaten or dredged away, we are specifically studying whether predator-prey interactions determine how the remaining 10 percent of our oyster reefs operate,” Kimbro said.

The restoration dollars are part of a grant from the Biological Oceanography Program, an offshoot of the National Science Foundation.

Totaling nearly $1 million over three years, the money has provided scientists with much-needed assistance and the means to properly execute their research.

Kimbro plans to expand his study of the natural oyster estuaries beyond the reaches of the university.

The effort is multi-institutional, with participation from members of U. North Carolina, U. Georgia and the Gulf of Maine Research Institute.

The study intends to actively observe 1,000 miles of shoreline along the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico.

The “In the Grass, On the Reef” blog can be accessed at www.wfsu.org/blog-coastal-health.