Historic baselines are important in developing our understanding of ecosystems in the face of rapid global change. While a number of studies have sought to determine changes in extent of exploited habitats over historic timescales, few have quantified such changes prior to late twentieth century baselines. Here, we present, to our knowledge, the first ever large-scale quantitative assessment of the extent and biomass of marine habitat-forming species over a 100-year time frame. We examined records of wild native oyster abundance in the United States from a historic, yet already exploited, baseline between 1878 and 1935 (predominantly 1885–1915), and a current baseline between 1968 and 2010 (predominantly 2000–2010). We quantified the extent of oyster grounds in 39 estuaries historically and 51 estuaries from recent times. Data from 24 estuaries allowed comparison of historic to present extent and biomass. We found evidence for a 64 per cent decline in the spatial extent of oyster habitat and an 88 per cent decline in oyster biomass over time. The difference between these two numbers illustrates that current areal extent measures may be masking significant loss of habitat through degradation.
For long term persistence of species, it is important to consider population structure. 28 Traits that hold adaptive advantage such as reproductive timing and stress resilience may differ 29 among locales. Knowledge and consideration of these traits should be integrated into 30 conservation efforts. A reciprocal transplant experiment was carried out monitoring survival, 31 growth, and reproduction using three established populations of Ostrea lurida within Puget 32 Sound, Washington. Performance differed for each population. Ostrea lurida from Dabob Bay 33 had higher survival at all sites but lower reproductive activity and growth. Oysters from Oyster 34 Bay demonstrated greater reproductive activity at all sites with moderate growth and survival. 35 Together these data suggest the existence of O. lurida population structure within Puget Sound 36 and provide information on how broodstock should be selected for restoration purposes.
Species traits that carry adaptive advantages such as reproductive timing and stress resilience may differ among populations. Knowledge and consideration of these traits should, therefore, be integrated into conservation efforts that include long‐term persistence of species. To test for adaptive differences between Olympia oyster, Ostrea lurida, populations a reciprocal transplant experiment was carried out monitoring survival, growth and reproduction using three established populations of O. lurida within Puget Sound, WA, USA. Performance differed for each population. Ostrea lurida from Dabob Bay had the highest survival at all sites but the lowest reproductive activity and growth. Oysters from Oyster Bay demonstrated the greatest proportion of brooding females at a majority of sites with moderate growth and survival. Together these data suggest the existence of O. lurida population structure within Puget Sound and provide information on how broodstock should be selected for restoration purposes.
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