Does restoring oyster reefs restore oyster health?

Authors: BEN-HORIN, TAL - University Of Rhode Island; BIDEGAIN, GORKA - University Of Southern Mississippi; BURGE, COLLEN - University Of Maryland; BUSHEK, DAVE - Rutgers University; CARNEGIE, RYAN - Virginia Institute Of Marine Science; GRONER, MAYA - Virginia Institute Of Marine Science; HOFFMAN, EILEEN - Old Dominion University; MUNROE, DAPHNE - Rutgers University; POWELL, ERIC - University Of Southern Mississippi; Proestou, Dina; SCHROER, WILLIAM - University Of South Carolina

Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/2/2017
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: American colonists found native oyster reefs so plentiful that oysters, with tobacco and spirits, completed the triumvirate of necessities, and their discarded shells paved the earliest colonial streets from New England down to the Gulf Coast. Industrialization and dredging, however, had devastating impacts on oyster beds, leaving oyster populations at a fraction of their abundance prior to European settlement. The ecosystem services lost with declining reefs have received much attention, but how has the decline in the abundance and extent of oysters influenced how these suspension-feeding hosts interact with endemic pathogens occurring in the water column? Here I will discuss a course of research integrating laboratory experiments, field observations, and epidemiological models to address how changes in oyster density and the community structure of oyster reefs influence the outcome of Dermo disease, including the role oyster aquaculture plays in amplifying or diluting disease impacts on wild oysters. This research aims to predict how enhancing oyster reefs through restoration activities will influence the outcome of disease in wild oyster populations.