Marine Ecology Progress Series
MEPS is a leading hybrid research journal on all aspects of marine, coastal and estuarine ecology. Priority is given to outstanding research that advances our ecological understanding.
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps10331
copiedDenitrification and nutrient assimilation on a restored oyster reef
ABSTRACT:
At a restored reef site and a control site in the Choptank River, Maryland, USA, we partially quantified the effect of oyster reef restoration on the removal of nutrients from the water column by determining seasonal fluxes of oxygen (O2), ammonium (NH4+), combined nitrate and nitrite (NO2+3), di-nitrogen (N2) and soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) and by assessing the assimilation of nutrients by macrofauna. Fluxes of O2, NH4+, NO2+3 and SRP at the restored site were enhanced by at least one order of magnitude during all seasons. Seasonal denitrification rates at the restored site, measured as flux of N2-N, ranged from 0.3 to 1.6 mmol N2-N m-2 h-1, with August rates among the highest ever recorded for an aquatic system. In addition to oysters (131 oysters m-2; average shell height = 114 mm; age = 2 to 7 yr), the restored reef provided habitat for 24585 other macrobenthic organisms per square meter compared to 2265 organisms m-2 at the control site. Restoration enhanced the average standing stock of assimilated nutrients by 95 g N m-2 and 15 g P m-2. Nitrogen and phosphorus in shells of live oysters and mussels accounted for 47 and 48% of total nitrogen and phosphorus standing stocks, respectively. Our results demonstrate that oyster reef restoration can significantly increase denitrification rates and enhance nutrient sequestration via assimilation into bivalve shells.
KEYWORDS
Oyster reefs reduce eutrophication by enhancing denitrification rates and assimilating nutrients into macrofauna. Image: M. L. Kellogg
85% of the world’s oyster reefs have been lost over the past 130 years, and there is increased interest in restoring these habitats and the services they once provided. Kellogg and co-workers studied a restored Crassostrea virginica reef in Chesapeake Bay, USA, and measured rates of denitrification that were among the highest ever recorded in an aquatic ecosystem. Reef restoration also enhanced the standing stock of nutrients assimilated into macrofauna by orders of magnitude. Almost half of these nutrients were bound in the shells of oysters and mussels. Thus, oyster reef restoration may reduce eutrophication to a greater extent than previously estimated.
M. Lisa Kellogg (Co-author)
- Virginia Institute of Marine Science, College of William & Mary, Gloucester Point, Virginia 23062, USA
Jeffrey C. Cornwell (Co-author)
- University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Horn Point Laboratory, Cambridge, Maryland 21613, USA
Michael S. Owens (Co-author)
- University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Horn Point Laboratory, Cambridge, Maryland 21613, USA
Kennedy T. Paynter (Co-author)
- Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Solomons, Maryland 20688, USA
- Department of Biology, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA