Oyster Reefs at Risk and Recommendations for Conservation, Restoration, and Management

Beck, Michael W.; Brumbaugh, R. Dan; Airoldi, Laura; Carranza, Alvar; Coen, Loren D.; Crawford, Christine; Defeo, Omar; Edgar, Graham J.; Hancock, Boze; Kay, Matthew C.; Lenihan, Hunter S.; Luckenbach, Mark W.; Toropova, Caitlyn; Zhang, Guofan; Guo, Ximing

doi:10.1525/bio.2011.61.2.5

Cited by 1,090 publications

(910 citation statements)

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“…However, the potential for recovery of native oyster reefs is emerging from restoration efforts at several key localities within Chesapeake Bay, Pamlico Sound, Strangford Lough in Northern Ireland and the Limfjord, Denmark [7]. Marine reserves can also help.…”

Section: Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This ranges from general shifts in cultural values (e.g. fashion ideals or animal ethics), which contributed to the rise of wild species conservation during the 19th and 20th centuries [40,77], to public and community support for conservation actions and political willingness to implement meaningful management plans [7,9]. Shifts in economic forces also contributed to recovery.…”

Section: What Else Is Needed?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At low abundance levels, populations might not be viable and head towards inevitable decline owing to Allee effects. Here, natural or humanaided re-introduction or translocation can support recovery of extirpated or suppressed populations (Box 2) [7,42]. Integrity of social structure and culture might also be important [82].…”

Section: What Else Is Needed?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Awareness, legal protection and enforcement of management plans are also crucial. Learning from historical recovery successes and failures is essential for implementing realistic conservation goals and promising management strategies.A new focus on recovery An increasing number of studies have reported strong declines in marine animal populations and the degradation of ocean ecosystems over past decades and centuries around the world [1][2][3][4][5][6][7], leading to a widespread perception of empty oceans and polluted waters. Yet, throughout history, humans have responded to declining resource abundance and ecosystem degradation by implementing management and conservation measures.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Recovery of marine animal populations and ecosystems

Lotze¹,

Coll²,

Magera³

et al. 2011

Trends in Ecology & Evolution

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358

316

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Many marine populations and ecosystems have experienced strong historical depletions, yet reports of recoveries are increasing. Here, we review the growing research on marine recoveries to reveal how common recovery is, its magnitude, timescale and major drivers. Overall, 10-50% of depleted populations and ecosystems show some recovery, but rarely to former levels of abundance. In addition, recovery can take many decades for long-lived species and complex ecosystems. Major drivers of recovery include the reduction of human impacts, especially exploitation, habitat loss and pollution, combined with favorable life-history and environmental conditions. Awareness, legal protection and enforcement of management plans are also crucial. Learning from historical recovery successes and failures is essential for implementing realistic conservation goals and promising management strategies.A new focus on recovery An increasing number of studies have reported strong declines in marine animal populations and the degradation of ocean ecosystems over past decades and centuries around the world [1][2][3][4][5][6][7], leading to a widespread perception of empty oceans and polluted waters. Yet, throughout history, humans have responded to declining resource abundance and ecosystem degradation by implementing management and conservation measures. Some of these have been successful and resulted in recovery, whereas others have failed [3,8,9].Therefore, an important question to science and management is: how common is recovery among depleted populations and degraded ecosystems in the ocean? Today, many marine mammal, bird, reptile and fish populations are at low abundance, and several species are endangered or extinct on regional or global scales [5,[10][11][12]. However, despite long periods of intense human impacts, most marine species persist and some populations do show signs of recovery [3,8,9]. Similarly, many coastal habitats, including wetlands, seagrass beds, mangrove and kelp forests, and oyster and coral reefs, have been severely reduced or degraded [2][3][4]6], yet partial recovery has been achieved in some regions in response to protection and pollution controls [3,13]. Restoration attempts at an ecosystem level have often been followed by the return and recovery of former species assemblages and ecosystem functions [13][14][15][16][17], but some ecosystems have remained in an altered state [18]. Such successes could serve as important guides for efforts to prevent further biodiversity loss and enhance future recoveries.Despite a growing number of case studies on the recovery of specific populations or ecosystems, an overview of the general patterns and drivers of marine recoveries over historical timescales is lacking. A recent review on the recovery of damaged ecosystems found that many terrestrial and marine ecosystems can recover on timescales of a few years to a few decades after major perturbations [19]. However, most case studies in the review, especially among marine and brackish examples, included small, short-...

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Section: Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: What Else Is Needed?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: What Else Is Needed?mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Recovery of marine animal populations and ecosystems

Lotze¹,

Coll²,

Magera³

et al. 2011

Trends in Ecology & Evolution

Self Cite

358

316

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“…Further concerns have been raised when C. gigas has been found on existing subtidal O. edulis populations (Tully and Clarke, 2012;personal observation). C. gigas has been found to affect O. edulis adversely and thus may displace the native species, potentially also altering associated diversity and functioning (Beck et al, 2011;Ruesink et al, 2005;Smyth and Roberts, 2010;Zwerschke et al, in review).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Benthic assemblages associated with native and non-native oysters are similar

Zwerschke

Emmerson

Roberts

et al. 2016

Marine Pollution Bulletin

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Invasive species can impact native species and alter assemblage structure, which affects associated ecosystem functioning. The pervasive Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas, has been shown to affect the diversity and composition of many host ecosystems. We tested for effects of the presence of the invasive C. gigas on native assemblages by comparing them directly to assemblages associated with the declining native European oyster, Ostrea edulis. The presence of both oyster species was manipulated in intertidal and subtidal habitats and reefs were constructed at horizontal and vertical orientation to the substratum. After 12 months, species diversity and benthic assemblage structure between assemblages with C. gigas and O. edulis were similar, but differed between habitats and orientation, suggesting that both oyster species were functionally similar in terms of biodiversity facilitation. These findings support evidence, that non-native species could play an important role in maintaining biodiversity in systems with declining populations of native species.

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