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Originally published in Science Express on 30 July 2009
Science 28 August 2009:
Vol. 325. no. 5944, pp. 1124 - 1128
DOI: 10.1126/science.1176516
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Reports

Unprecedented Restoration of a Native Oyster Metapopulation

David M. Schulte, Russell P. Burke, Romuald N. Lipcius*

Native oyster species were once vital ecosystem engineers, but their populations have collapsed worldwide because of overfishing and habitat destruction. In 2004, we initiated a vast (35-hectare) field experiment by constructing native oyster reefs of three types (high-relief, low-relief, and unrestored) in nine protected sanctuaries throughout the Great Wicomico River in Virginia, United States. Upon sampling in 2007 and 2009, we found a thriving metapopulation comprising 185 million oysters of various age classes. Oyster density was fourfold greater on high-relief than on low-relief reefs, explaining the failure of past attempts. Juvenile recruitment and reef accretion correlated with oyster density, facilitating reef development and population persistence. This reestablished metapopulation is the largest of any native oyster worldwide and validates ecological restoration of native oyster species.

Department of Fisheries Science, Virginia Institute of Marine Science, The College of William and Mary, Gloucester Point, VA 23062, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: rom{at}vims.edu

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Oyster Disease Is Not a Red Herring
Eugene M. Burreson, et al.
Science Online, 18 Sep 2009 [Full text]

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