The authors claim that their study, which was printed last month by the online journal PLoS ONE, provides comprehensive results on the spill’s effect on deep-water communities at the base of the Gulf’s food chain for the first time.

The spill resulted from an explosion on board the Deepwater Horizon oil rig that occurred on April 20, 2010, and resulted in a total of 4.9 million barrels (205.8 million gallons) of crude in what went on to become the largest offshore oil spill in US history.

In gauging the long-term effect of the disaster, the scientists conducted a 2011 cruise to collect additional data from sites that had been previously sampled in the fall of 2010. Specifically, they looked at the Gulf’s soft-bottom muddy habitats, examining biological composition and chemical composition at the same time and at the same location.