Quantifying Tradeoffs in Ecosystem Services Under Various Oyster Reef Restoration Designs

Oysters' Integration on Submerged Breakwaters Offers New Adaptive Shoreline Protection in Low‐Energy Environments in the Face of Sea Level Rise

“…In addition, seeding in the tanks avoided the high competition between species that occurred during summer. After 2/3 years, OCs were fully colonized by oysters, demonstrating the efficacy of OCs as a methodology to restore the oyster population (Hogan & Reidenbach, 2022; Theuerkauf et al., 2015).…”

“…Future restoration plans involving oysters in coastal defense should definitely take these crucial aspects into account, in order to properly protect the coast in the face of climate changes and SLR, while also providing many other useful ecosystem services for the environment. Water filtration, carbon sequestration, new habitat creation, as well as an overall improvement of environmental conditions which positively affect the life and health of many aquatic species, are direct consequences of oysters' longevity within marine and estuarine environments (Coen et al., 2007; Grabowski & Peterson, 2007; Hogan & Reidenbach, 2022).…”

“…When MWL is at the same level as the coastline shelf, waves dissipate directly on the shore edge, causing erosion and habitat loss, rather than gradually dissipate on the shore platform (Tonelli et al., 2010; Vona et al., 2020). Competition among species such as aquatic algae may also affect the growth and benthic processes of oysters (Hogan & Reidenbach, 2022; Thomsen & McGlathery, 2006; Volaric et al., 2019). Inadequate planning involving oysters that don't consider these key aspects will likely prove to be less or completely ineffective.…”

“…Recent research effort has mainly focused on studying the ability of these oyster‐based infrastructures to reduce wave energy and mitigate shoreline erosion (Chowdhury et al., 2019; Morris et al., 2021; Scyphers et al., 2011; Wiberg et al., 2019), on estimating the growth rate of these reefs compared to SLR (Ridge et al., 2017; Rodriguez et al., 2014), or analyzing the roughness of oyster beds in comparison with free bed case scenario (Styles, 2015; Wright et al., 1990). However, few studies (Hogan & Reidenbach, 2022), have investigated the coupling between oysters and artificial structures in order to create an effective hybrid solution capable of self‐adaption without losing effectiveness in the face of climate changes and SLR. Natural and Nature‐based Features (USACE, 2012) integration with existing gray infrastructure may enhance the current performance of the armoring (i.e., shoreline stabilization and soil accretion), extend its effectiveness into the future, and cost less to build and maintain, while also improving the ecological value of these artificial structures (Sutton‐Grier et al., 2018).…”

“…OCs are modular cinder blocks (made of a mixture of concrete and oysters' shells) that can interlock each other under different shapes and combinations, also used to enhance oyster population. They have been shown to promote recruitment, retention, vertical accretion and horizontal expansion of oyster habitats (Hogan & Reidenbach, 2022; Theuerkauf et al., 2015). However, oysters did not develop over our structures and we were not able to study such coupling more deeply in the field.…”