University of Virginia researchers, in partnership with The Nature Conservancy, are sharing the good news that the future of oyster reefs, which have experienced greater than 85% loss worldwide over the past two centuries, doesn’t have to be bleak.
University of Virginia researchers, in partnership with The Nature Conservancy, are sharing the good news that the future of oyster reefs, which have experienced greater than 85% loss worldwide over the past two centuries, doesn’t have to be bleak.
Their 15-year study, published Tuesday, demonstrates that restored reefs can match natural reef oyster populations in about six years and continue to hold strong thereafter.
“Our study shows that restoration can catalyze rapid recovery of an imperiled coastal habitat and help reverse decades of degradation,” said the study’s lead author, Rachel Smith, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Environmental Sciences at UVA.
Oyster reefs are aggregate coastal formations built by the hinge-shelled mollusks. The reefs form along sand bars and muddy tidal flats, molding to contours at water’s edge and serving as a bulwark against erosion. As sea levels rise, so do the reefs – if they are healthy.
Due to over-harvesting and oyster diseases, however, the reefs have been in decline. In fact, many wild populations are now considered “functionally extinct” because of severe habitat losses.
Read more at: University of Virginia
Brittany Collins of The Nature Conservancy measures oysters and crabs on Feb. 10, 2021, on a restored reef in the Hillcrest Oyster Sanctuary. (Photo Credit: Bo Lusk, The Nature Conservancy)
