Journal of Biodiversity & Endangered Species

Cannot Go Wrong With Eastern Oysters (Crassostrea Virginica): Restoring the Delaware Inland Bays Biodiversity

Abstract

Gulnihal Ozbay, Brian Reckenbeil, Frank Marenghi and Patrick Erbland

Crassostrea virginica is notably known for its ability to create complex habitats known as oyster reefs. Oyster reefs provide the primary source of hard bottom habitat along the eastern seaboard
of the United States, yet natural reefs are absent from the Delaware Inland Bays. Oysters form reefs through a positive feed-back loop in which the shell matrix formed by resident oysters provides new substrate for the continual recruitment, settlement, and survival of successive generations. Shellfish beds trap and incorporate shells, sediment, algae, and other floating particles which provide a framework of material for tube-builders, bacteria, microalgae, invertebrates and other benthic species to live within. A variety of fauna utilize these structures for refuge and resource acquisition. Large oyster reefs are analogs to coral reefs, forests, salt marshes, and other habitats that perform critical ecosystem services.