About the Authors

Rodrigo Almeda

ralmeda@utexas.edu

Affiliation University of Texas Marine Science Institute, Port Aransas, Texas, United States of America

Zoe Wambaugh

Affiliations University of Texas Marine Science Institute, Port Aransas, Texas, United States of America, Humboldt State University, Arcata, California, United States of America

Zucheng Wang

Affiliations University of Texas Marine Science Institute, Port Aransas, Texas, United States of America, East China Normal University, Shanghai, China

Cammie Hyatt

Affiliation University of Texas Marine Science Institute, Port Aransas, Texas, United States of America

Zhanfei Liu

Affiliation University of Texas Marine Science Institute, Port Aransas, Texas, United States of America

Edward J. Buskey

Affiliation University of Texas Marine Science Institute, Port Aransas, Texas, United States of America

Competing Interests

This study was partly funded by a grant from BP/TheGulf of Mexico Research Initiative through the University of Texas Marine Science Institute (DROPPS consortium: 'Dispersion Research on Oil: Physics and Plankton Studies'). There are no patents, products in development or marketed products to declare. This does not alter the authors’ adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials, as detailed online in the guide for authors.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: RA EJB ZL. Performed the experiments: RA Z. Wambaugh Z. Wang CH. Analyzed the data: RA Z. Wambaugh Z. Wang EJB ZL. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: RA Z. Wambaugh Z. Wang EJB CH ZL. Wrote the paper: RA EJB ZL Z. Wambaugh CH Z. Wang.