Marine Science Faculty Publications
Diminishing Returns in Habitat Restoration by Adding Biogenic Materials: a Test Using Estuarine Oysters and Recycled Oyster Shell
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2020
Keywords
ecosystem-level restoration, estuarine salinization, larval recruitment, predation threshold hypothesis, restoration metrics, structural complexity
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.1111/rec.13227
Abstract
Restoration of degraded estuarine oyster reefs typically involves deploying recycled oyster shell. In low-salinity, low-predation areas of estuaries, high-volume shell deployments are known to improve flow conditions and thus oyster survival and growth. It is also hypothesized that the physical structure of restored reefs could suppress foraging by oyster predators in high-salinity, high-predation zones. That hypothesis is untested. Given limited resources, it is important to determine how much shell is needed for successful restoration and whether there are diminishing returns in shell addition. In Apalachicola Bay, Florida, we manipulated shell volume on an oyster reef to create three 0.4 ha areas of low (no shell addition), moderate (153 m3 shell), and high (306 m3 shell) habitat structure. We repeated experiments and surveys over 2 years to determine if restoration success increased with habitat structure. Predation on oysters was greater on the non-shelled area than on the reshelled reefs, but similar between the two reshelled reefs. Oyster larval supply did not differ among the reef areas, but by the end of the experiment, oyster density (per unit area) increased quadratically with habitat structure, plateauing at high levels of structure. Model selection indicated that the most parsimonious explanation for these patterns was that increased habitat structure reduced predation and increased overall recruitment, but that the higher reshelling treatment did not have better outcomes than moderate reshelling. Thus, restoration could be optimized by deploying a moderate amount of shell per unit area.
Was this content written or created while at USF?
Yes
Citation / Publisher Attribution
Restoration Ecology, v. 28, issue 6, p. 1633-1642
Scholar Commons Citation
Kimbro, David L.; Stallings, Christopher D.; and White, James W., "Diminishing Returns in Habitat Restoration by Adding Biogenic Materials: a Test Using Estuarine Oysters and Recycled Oyster Shell" (2020). Marine Science Faculty Publications. 2316.
https://digitalcommons.usf.edu/msc_facpub/2316
