Determining the Resiliency of Juvenile Oysters in Chesapeake Bay

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Determining the Resiliency of Juvenile Oysters in Chesapeake Bay

The Eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) is one of the most important species in Chesapeake Bay. This bivalve species filters the water, its reefs provide food and shelter for other marine species, and it is an important seafood resource in the Chesapeake Bay. However, the Eastern oyster’s population in Maryland is at a historical low due to historical overfishing, diseases such as Dermo, and stressors such as hypoxia (low dissolved oxygen) and acidification (low pH). In shallow tributaries of Chesapeake Bay, hypoxia and acidification occurring in daily cycles, with low oxygen and high acidity occurring primarily at night and in the early morning, rather than continuous low levels like in the dead zone of the deepest parts of the Bay. The Marine & Estuarine Ecology Lab and the Fish & Invertebrate Ecology Lab at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center (SERC) teamed up to understand the effects these two stressors, low dissolved oxygen and low pH, have on oyster growth in Chesapeake Bay. Studies have shown that juvenile oysters grown in low oxygen are generally smaller than oysters grown under normal oxygen conditions. However, it is still unknown how these oysters fare over the long term. SERC staff are especially interested in studying how these stressors affect juvenile oysters later in life. Learn more about this project and other projects at SERC: https://serc.si.edu/research/projects/oysters-and-multiple-stressors https://serc.si.edu/research Video edit by Cosette Larash Music by Adam Vitovsky Creative Commons License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

2 min 43 sec

Environment Science Marine Biology Forestry Chemistry Wetlands Estuaries Ecosystems Watersheds