Category: Oysters

Field Stories: Coastal Resiliency in Georgia

8/26/2024

On a recent trip to Georgia, I found myself unexpectedly (and directly!) in the path of Tropical Storm Debby. The rainfall, flooding, and wind prevented me from visiting Sapelo Island, but I was still able to participate in a week long workshop about science communication and bioinformatics in Savannah with some fellow marine scientists.

While we experienced substantial rainfall in Savannah for several days, there was less flooding than initially forecasted. Given the circumstances, I was curious about the factors of coastal resiliency in Georgia that may have contributed to reducing the impact of flooding during Debby.

Having collected wild oysters from Georgia for my dissertation, I knew that there are expansive natural oyster reef structures along the coastlines in the greater Savannah area. Specifically, I know that native oyster reefs play a role in shielding the coast from storm surge and erosion.

Tropical Storm Debby was forecasted to bring close to 30 inches of rain to Savannah, GA, a record rainfall. Image credit: NOAA & Savannah Morning News

Some wild local oysters near Savannah, GA. Some oyster reefs occur deeper in the water column (subtidally) where they are fully covered by water. This reef is intertidal, where the oysters are exposed to air during low tides.

With a growing number of people living in coastal areas along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the US, it's imperative to better understand coastal mitigation strategies in the face of rapidly intensifying storms and climate change events. Natural oyster reefs are ecosystem engineers that provide a physical barrier which mitigates storm surges and prevents successive erosion (Chowdhury et al 2021). Beyond physical factors, filter-feeding oysters clear bacteria that enters the water through storm drainage and runoff. Oyster reefs also provide valuable structural habitat for many marine species. This habitat is the foundation for biodiverse ecosystems and healthy fisheries that remain resilient to extreme climatic events (Chowdhury et al 2021).

To investigate additional factors of coastal resilience in Georgia, I visited Tybee Island, just east of Savannah, with other workshop attendees. While there, we were inundated with heavy rain and wind, but we were able to identify several features of the landscape that, in part, play a role in buffering the coastline from storms.

I teamed up with scientists Damián Santiago-Sosa, Paul Okrah, Darrian Talamantes, and Mai Fahmy, who shared their expertise on resilient coastal ecosystems and how marine scientists study these coastlines in the video that we created!

Check out our video on features of resilient coastlines such as sand dunes, bacteria, and biodiversity! These resilient features are similar among many coastlines in different marine environments, so next time you're on the coast, see how many of these features you can identify.

We encountered strong winds & rain on Tybee Island from Tropical Storm Debby!

Coastal scientists Paul Okrah and Damián Santiago-Sosa on Tybee Island with me!

Citations
1. Chowdhury, Mohammed Shah Nawaz, Megan La Peyre, Loren D. Coen, Rebecca L. Morris, Mark W. Luckenbach, Tom Ysebaert, Brenda Walles, and Aad C. Smaal. "Ecological engineering with oysters enhances coastal resilience efforts." Ecological Engineering 169 (2021): 106320

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Protocol: ImageJ for Oyster Shell Parasites

7/18/2024

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Few studies have investigated how abiotic, biotic, and genetic conditions combined impact range-wide infestation rates of parasites on wild eastern oysters. I aim to map these spatial patterns of parasite infestation across the seascape and determine whether patterns correlate with environmental factors (temperature, salinity, co-occurring parasitic infestations) and/or population genetics. To achieve this, I am mapping the prevalence of parasitic Polydora worm blisters in eastern oyster shells.

I've co-authored a lab protocol for using ImageJ to extract parasitic worm blister data with Lotterhos Lab summer intern Lisa Gouralnik! This protocol provides guidelines for identifying polydora worm blisters, using ImageJ to calculate total shell areas and areas of blister infection, and creating high-quality composite images.

The Polydora worm burrows into oyster shells, creating irritation and weakening shell integrity. Infected oysters exhibit a lower condition index, a measure of health, than uninfected oysters.

Eastern oyster shells from the coastal Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico show parasitic worm blisters, outlined in dashed lines.

Above: Lisa in the shell imaging lab at the Marine Science Center. Right: Excerpt from the protocol about collecting data on complex colored blisters.

Lisa collected >2000 data points on the polydora worm blisters over the past two months of their internship. It was great to mentor them on this project, and I'm excited to get to the next steps of data analysis!

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Melbourne R. Carriker Research Award

4/8/2024

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Last week I was awarded the Melbourne R. Carriker Student Research Grant from the National Shellfisheries Association! The award is a competitive grant ($1250) awarded annually to recognize a student's excellence in the area of shellfish research. I am grateful to the NSA's funding and support towards my research, and I look forward to presenting my research at an upcoming NSA meeting.

The Melbourne R. Carriker Student Research Grant is named in honor of one of the Association's most distinguished past Presidents and the person who formalized the regular publication of the society meeting notes as the Proceedings of the National Shellfisheries Association.

My successful application materials can be accessed through the "Awards and Grants" section of my website! If you are interested in applying for the award in future cycles and would like to get in touch, please send me an email.

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Field Stories: Coastal Resiliency in Georgia

Protocol: ImageJ for Oyster Shell Parasites

Melbourne R. Carriker Research Award

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