Developing design criteria and novel monitoring approaches for oyster restoration to improve water quality and enhance estuarine habitat value

Our proposed research aligns with NRERC focus areas, because it involves testing and understanding novel ways to restore the commercially and ecologically valuable eastern oyster, a natural resource of high value and priority to North Carolina coastal waters. In particular, oysters provide numerous ecosystem services, notably their filtration services to natural ecosystems, and healthy oyster populations are often linked with improved water quality in coastal estuaries and bays. In fact, efforts aimed at oyster restoration provide a number of benefits to human communities and infrastructure that go beyond even the aforementioned filtration services, including shoreline protection from wave energy and surge, nursery habitat for numerous commercially and recreationally valuable species, not to mention the commercial value of oysters themselves as a human food item. Oyster restoration research is therefore an important focal area for North Carolina coasts, and one that aligns well with the Natural Resources components of the NRERC.

Scholars @ ECU