- This event has passed.
Seminar: Dr. Niels Lindquist, IMS UNC-CH
April 13, 2016 @ 3:35 pm - 4:35 pm
Applying Fundamentals of Oyster Ecology to Habitat Management, Restoration, Aquaculture and Economic Opportunity (Host: Christ Martens) Centuries of over-harvest and coastal development have decimated once extensive oyster reefs, thereby degrading coastal communities and economies as the vast array of beneficial goods and services oysters provide has waned. Despite decades of restoration efforts, wild oyster harvests are not recovering. Failure to appreciate the role played by salinity in oyster biology has, in part, contributed to the lack of success. Oysters survive and thrive in two “safe zones” from their pests: (1) intertidal zones in higher salinity waters near coastal inlets and (2) lower salinity portions of estuaries. This important generalization has been known for centuries and underpinned historic oyster cultivation practices. Unfortunately, old wisdom is often ignored and poorly-tested assumptions often used to make decisions about where and how to restore oyster populations. The UNC Institute of Marine Sciences has a long history of oyster research that has helped to more deeply inform us about oyster ecology and to provide insights into novel means of growing oysters. Recently, Lindquist and oysterman David “Clammerhead” Cessna co-invented a new ephemeral substrate on which to capture oysters that when deployed in the intertidal safe zone yields immense numbers of juvenile oysters useful for managed aquaculture, oyster habitat restoration and oyster reef construction along erosion sensitive shoreline. The UNC Office of Technology Development funded a highly successful pilot project to test substrate efficacy and inform patent rights licensing decisions. Commercialization rights for the novel substrate are expected to be licensed to the Sandbar Oyster Company, a start-up company co-founded by Lindquist and Cessna.