Presenter Major

Earth and Environmental Studies

Presentation Type

Poster

Location

Hays Theatre, Wilbur Arts Building

Start Date

26-4-2024 10:45 AM

End Date

26-4-2024 11:30 AM

Description (Abstract)

The Great South Bay (GSB), a bar-built, temperate, coastal lagoon on the south shore of Long Island, New York, USA, is a highly modified estuary due to heavy urbanization and suburbanization in the last century. GSB historically provided up to 50% of the nation’s hard clam (Mercenaria mercenaria) harvest, and is the legal home of the “Blue Point” oyster (eastern oyster; Crassostrea virginica). However, due to overexploitation as well as persistent stress from ongoing nitrogen pollution and harmful algal blooms, shellfish populations are fractions of their original abundances. Restoration efforts in GSB, driven both by community efforts and local authorities, focus on bringing back the eastern oyster with the goal that these filter feeders will improve water quality, build reef habitat, provide protection from storm surge, and thus positively impact greater ecosystem stability. In summer 2023, we collected samples from 15 stations to isolate environmental DNA (eDNA) and implement next-generation sequencing to determine how new oyster reef habitat impacts community biodiversity. This is the first year of an ongoing project that will determine the impacts of oyster restoration on resiliency at different sites in the GSB, as determined from eDNA-based biodiversity estimates.

Keywords

Oysters, Biodiversity, eDNA, Restoration, Water Quality

Related Pillar(s)

Community, Service, Study

Share

COinS
 
Apr 26th, 10:45 AM Apr 26th, 11:30 AM

Using eDNA to assess impacts of oyster restoration on ecosystem biodiversity at a heavily impacted coastal lagoon

Hays Theatre, Wilbur Arts Building

The Great South Bay (GSB), a bar-built, temperate, coastal lagoon on the south shore of Long Island, New York, USA, is a highly modified estuary due to heavy urbanization and suburbanization in the last century. GSB historically provided up to 50% of the nation’s hard clam (Mercenaria mercenaria) harvest, and is the legal home of the “Blue Point” oyster (eastern oyster; Crassostrea virginica). However, due to overexploitation as well as persistent stress from ongoing nitrogen pollution and harmful algal blooms, shellfish populations are fractions of their original abundances. Restoration efforts in GSB, driven both by community efforts and local authorities, focus on bringing back the eastern oyster with the goal that these filter feeders will improve water quality, build reef habitat, provide protection from storm surge, and thus positively impact greater ecosystem stability. In summer 2023, we collected samples from 15 stations to isolate environmental DNA (eDNA) and implement next-generation sequencing to determine how new oyster reef habitat impacts community biodiversity. This is the first year of an ongoing project that will determine the impacts of oyster restoration on resiliency at different sites in the GSB, as determined from eDNA-based biodiversity estimates.