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- Title
Oyster Reef Habitat Restoration: Relationships Between Oyster Abundance and Community Development based on Two Studies in Virginia and South Carolina.
- Authors
Luckenbacht, Mark W.; Coen, Loren D.; Ross Jr., P. G.; Stephen, Jessica A.
- Abstract
Most Atlantic and Gulf coast U.S. states with an oyster fishery have operated some form of oyster reef enhancement program over the past 50 years. Although programs were initially only directed at oyster fisheries augmentation, recent emphasis has shifted to include the restoration of their ecological functions. Furthermore, many of these programs are managed by environmental organizations or state agencies not traditionally involved in fisheries management or research, but rather in ecological restoration, monitoring, and/or environmental education. A simple assessment of shellfish meetings over the past five years, including the inaugural Restore America's Estuaries meeting from which this paper is derived, revealed more than 300 presentations related to oyster restoration, with fewer than 25% focused solely on oyster fishery restoration. Unfortunately, many of those efforts lacked well-defined "success criteria," with progress often judged using fisheries-based metrics such as market-sized (generally 75 mm or 3") oysters. Here we discuss our findings as they relate to the value of alternative restoration metrics and associated success criteria using data from two very different systems and approaches: one conducted in Virginia's lower Chesapeake Bay (Rappahannock River), based on data from a two-year program utilizing subtidally constructed reefs of different reef "scale," and the other a long-term study in South Carolina focusing on intertidal reefs. For each system, we compared newly created reef structures, relating oyster abundance and size to resident species abundance and biodiversity over time. Our results revealed positive correlations between several community descriptors and the size and density of oysters on the reefs. Of the 15 significant (and 5 marginally insignificant) correlations observed out of a total 78 examined across both studies, all but one were positive. The exception was for epifaunal invertebrate diversity vs. oyster biomass on the Rappahannock reefs. Despite these numerous positive correlations, none indicated that market-sized oysters are a prerequisite for supporting an abundant and diverse community. For example, intertidal oyster >75 mm in South Carolina typically make up <10% of all reef oysters, with a maximum of 18%. Finally, until we have a more thorough understanding of the interactions between individual species and the mechanisms linking oyster populations and reef community attributes, we propose that oyster abundance/size structure be used for assessments. Future studies need to develop and evaluate restoration progress using a combination of standardized criteria that can be applied to reef success over a wide geographical range and surrogate or indirect ecological measures (e.g., filtering, habitat use).
- Subjects
VIRGINIA; SOUTH Carolina; REEF ecology; RESTORATION ecology; OYSTER fisheries; BIOTIC communities
- Publication
Journal of Coastal Research, 2005, p64
- ISSN
0749-0208
- Publication type
Article