What can be done to speed the recovery of the benthic organisms?
There is very little that can be done to speed the recovery of benthic organisms and reef communities affected by this event. These communities do eventually recover to prior population and diversity levels as part of natural recolonization and growth processes. Because of weekly monitoring of oxygen and red tide levels in the region of the bottom mortalities, scientists know that the passage of Hurricane Katrina offshore caused enough mixing of seawater to disrupt and mix the low-oxygen region and return oxygen levels to normal. This reoxygenation of the seawater is the first step in the recovery of bottom communities.
