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Theses/Dissertations

Oyster

Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology

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Full-Text Articles in Marine Biology

Examining The Effect Of Interstitial Space On Eastern Oysters (Crassostrea Virginica): Applications Of Photogrammetry And Three-Dimensional Modeling, Bailie Lavan May 2019

Examining The Effect Of Interstitial Space On Eastern Oysters (Crassostrea Virginica): Applications Of Photogrammetry And Three-Dimensional Modeling, Bailie Lavan

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Global oyster populations have decreased by as much as 99% in the past century. Oysters are known ecosystem engineers, providing benthic habitat for macrofauna, linking benthic and pelagic food webs, improving water quality, and mitigating shoreline erosion. Restoration efforts are critical in re-establishing native oyster populations. In the Chesapeake Bay, where oyster loss is primarily due to severe over harvest, artificial substrates with geometric shapes are widely used in restoration efforts. However, natural oyster reefs form emergent shapes with a high degree of aggregation and many interstitial spaces (three-dimensional volumetric spaces between oysters within a reef). The lack of interstitial …


Efficacy Of Magnesium Enriched Artificial Substrate For Oyster Restoration, Matthew Elder May 2018

Efficacy Of Magnesium Enriched Artificial Substrate For Oyster Restoration, Matthew Elder

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

The eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica, is a keystone species that has undergone a large (> 95%) population decline due to overharvest, pollution, and disease. Restoration efforts focus on alternative larval attachment substrates such as concrete, to supplement the loss of natural oyster shell. Magnesium is a component of bivalve shells and its presence in the environment has shown to be important to the growth of mussels, but the same relationship has not been studied in oysters. Assuming that magnesium can be assimilated from the substrate on which the organism is growing, or that ions of magnesium are leached into …


Detrital Protein Contributes To Oyster Nutrition And Growth In The Damariscotta Estuary, Maine, Usa, Cheyenne M. Adams May 2018

Detrital Protein Contributes To Oyster Nutrition And Growth In The Damariscotta Estuary, Maine, Usa, Cheyenne M. Adams

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Oyster aquaculture is an expanding industry that relies on identifying and utilizing natural estuarine conditions for the economically viable production of a filter-feeding crop. The eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica, is the principal species currently cultured in Maine. In addition to preferentially consumed phytoplankton, various detrital complexes (non-algal and/or non-living organic matter) may provide some nutrition to C. virginica between times of phytoplankton abundance. Here I investigated the importance of detrital proteins in supporting the growth of oysters cultured in the upper Damariscotta Estuary. Oyster aquaculture in this area is highly successful and previous reports indicate that labile detrital protein …


The Effect Of Calcium In Artificial Substrates For Oyster Restoration: Implications For The Mitigation Of Oyster Population Decline, Jessie Mandirola May 2017

The Effect Of Calcium In Artificial Substrates For Oyster Restoration: Implications For The Mitigation Of Oyster Population Decline, Jessie Mandirola

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

Oyster populations in the Chesapeake Bay have declined by 99% over the past 150 years due to overharvesting, disease, ocean acidification, and poor water quality. Restoration efforts are needed to reestablish native oyster populations. Current restoration efforts utilize natural oyster shells but these methods are expensive and unsustainable. Therefore, restoration is starting to use artificial substrates instead. Concrete has been successfully used in previous research; spat will attach and oysters will grow. However, there is a lack of knowledge about how the composition of concrete effects oyster larval recruitment. We tested concrete made with limestone sand (“special concrete”) to increase …