Oyster Reef Habitat Restoration: Relationships Between Oyster Abundance and Community Development based on Two Studies in Virginia and South Carolina

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