Oysters once formed vast coral reefs along much of Europe’s coastline, but these complex ecosystems were destroyed more than 100 years ago, a new study reveals.
The study, based on documents from the 18th and 19th centuries, shows that European oysters formed large coral reefs consisting of both living and dead shells, providing a habitat that supported a rich biodiversity. It became clear.
Currently, these oysters are mainly found as scattered individuals, but researchers have found evidence of coral reefs across almost the entire area of at least 1.7 million hectares, an area larger than Northern Ireland, from Norway to the Mediterranean Sea.
restoration
Native oyster reefs form unique ecosystems filled with diverse aquatic life, supporting more species than surrounding areas.
In addition to providing habitat for approximately 200 recorded species of fish and crustaceans, oysters also played an important role in shoreline stabilization, nutrient cycling, and water filtration. One adult oyster filters up to 200 liters of water per day.
Restoration projects are underway across Europe. Small-scale habitat restoration efforts such as the Wild Oyster Project led by ZSL and partners are an important stepping stone to restoring these important ecosystems on an international scale.
But recovery efforts must be scaled up, with support from governments and other decision-makers across the continent. The research was led by the University of Exeter and the University of Edinburgh.
memory
“Human activities have been impacting the oceans for centuries,” said Dr Ruth Thurstan from the University of Exeter. Convex seascape surveyan ambitious five-year project to investigate ocean carbon storage.
“This makes it difficult to discover what our marine ecosystems were once like, which in turn impedes conservation and recovery.
“Few people in the UK today will have ever seen the native flat oyster. Oysters still exist in these waters, but they are scattered and the oysters build up. Coral reefs are also gone.
“We tend to think of the ocean floor as a flat, muddy space, but many places were once complex, three-dimensional landscapes of living coral reefs, now completely erased from our collective memory. It’s lost.”
destruction
Because of their economic and cultural importance, oysters feature in historical records such as newspapers, books, travelogues, landing records, nautical charts, early scientific surveys, and interviews with fishermen.
“By combining descriptive descriptions from a variety of historical sources, we can build a complete picture of the oceans of the past.” said Dr. Thurstan. The highest concentration of oyster reefs we found was in the North Sea. ”
Records show that vast coral reefs existed along the coasts of present-day France, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, the Republic of Ireland, and the United Kingdom.
“Oyster reefs are slow to develop, with layers of new oysters building up on the dead shells of previous oysters, but destruction from overfishing has been relatively rapid,” said Dr Philine Z Elmgassen, Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Edinburgh. speaks.
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“This caused a fundamental restructuring and ‘flattening’ of the ocean floor, removing thriving ecosystems and leaving behind vast tracts of soft sediment.
“Thanks to this historic ecological study, we can now quantitatively describe what oyster reefs looked like before they were affected and the spatial extent of the ecosystems they form. These were large areas covered in thick oysters and crawling with other marine life.”
The research team consisted of more than 30 European researchers from the Native Oyster Restoration Alliance. This research was partially funded by the European Research Council.
Papers published in magazines natural sustainabilitytitled “Records reveal vast historical extent of Europe’s oyster reef ecosystems”.
this author
Brendan Montague is the editor Ecologist.
