Climate change is impacting the function and distribution of habitats used by marine, coastal, and diadromous species. These impacts often exacerbate the anthropogenic stressors that habitats face, particularly in the coastal environment. We conducted a climate vulnerability assessment of 52 marine, estuarine, and riverine habitats in the Northeast U.S. to develop an ecosystem-scale understanding of the impact of climate change on these habitats. The trait-based assessment considers the overall vulnerability of a habitat to climate change to be a function of two main components, sensitivity and exposure, and relies on a process of expert elicitation. The climate vulnerability ranks ranged from low to very high, with living habitats identified as the most vulnerable. Over half of the habitats examined in this study are expected to be impacted negatively by climate change, while four habitats are expected to have positive effects. Coastal habitats were also identified as highly vulnerable, in part due to the influence of non-climate anthropogenic stressors. The results of this assessment provide regional managers and scientists with a tool to inform habitat conservation, restoration, and research priorities, fisheries and protected species management, and coastal and ocean planning.

© 2021 American Meteorological Society. For information regarding reuse of this content and general copyright information, consult the AMS Copyright Policy (www.ametsoc.org/PUBSReuseLicenses).CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: Andrew C. Ross, andrew.c.ross@noaa.govA supplement to this article is available online (10.1175/BAMS-D-20-0129.2)

Oyster populations and reef habitats have notably declined in the last century around the world. The ecological, economic, and cultural values of oysters have led to a variety of restoration efforts seeking to recover these lost benefits. Limitations of the native oyster shell substrate and the large-scale nature of many restoration projects have resulted in the increased use of a variety of alternative, or artificial, substrates to create reef structures. A text mining package was used to conduct a review of alternative substrates used for oyster restoration. Specifically, the review (1) assessed commonly used alternative substrates, (2) locations where alternative substrates are used, and (3) common performance metrics used to evaluate alternative substrates. The review demonstrated that (1) the most common substrates included porcelain, concrete, limestone, noncalcium stone, nonoyster shell, dredged shell, and engineered reefs; (2) oyster restoration with alternative substrates occurs worldwide, but evaluations of alternative substrates were primarily (79%) within the United States of America; and (3) four main categories of performance metrics are used to assess alternative substrates-biological, structural, chemical, and economic acceptability. Within the four performance metrics, however, there exists a substantial variety in terms of specific metrics used and application of metrics to assess alternative substrates. Results highlight the need for common metrics across projects to ease comparison between alternative substrate options.

ABSTRACT Oyster populations and reef habitats have notably declined in the last century around the world. The ecological, economic, and cultural values of oysters have led to a variety of restoration efforts seeking to recover these lost benefits. Limitations of the native oyster shell substrate and the large-scale nature of many restoration projects have resulted in the increased use of a variety of alternative, or artificial, substrates to create reef structures. A text mining package was used to conduct a review of alternative substrates used for oyster restoration. Specifically, the review (1) assessed commonly used alternative substrates, (2) locations where alternative substrates are used, and (3) common performance metrics used to evaluate alternative substrates. The review demonstrated that (1) the most common substrates included porcelain, concrete, limestone, noncalcium stone, nonoyster shell, dredged shell, and engineered reefs; (2) oyster restoration with alternative substrates occurs worldwide, but evaluations of alternative substrates were primarily (79%) within the United States of America; and (3) four main categories of performance metrics are used to assess alternative substrates—biological, structural, chemical, and economic acceptability. Within the four performance metrics, however, there exists a substantial variety in terms of specific metrics used and application of metrics to assess alternative substrates. Results highlight the need for common metrics across projects to ease comparison between alternative substrate options.

Given the stories of Oyster Wars, competition for resources, and the large number of people involved in managing the oysters of the Chesapeake Bay, one might expect a fractured social network. Some management mandates require multiple stakeholder groups at the table, but these very rarely also mandate collaboration between the different types of oyster work going on: wild harvest, aquaculture, sanctuaries, and restoration. 140 people were surveyed via snowball sampling to document the social network of the Chesapeake oyster community. The survey questions used to construct the links between people in the network focused on the transfer of valued advice. Results show that the oyster community is well-connected across jurisdictional divides, type of oyster worked with, opinions of management, and across most career sectors. This shows that, despite persistent stereotypes to the contrary, members of the oyster community reach out for advice to a diverse cohort of colleagues.

A step-wise approach to implementing ecosystem-based fishery management (EBFM) offers both a tractable policy opportunity and feasible set of scientific responsibilities in ongoing efforts to incorporate ecosystem dynamics into fisheries management. This case study of oysters in the Chesapeake takes a regional approach and utilizes a fishery species that is a popular menu item, an important habitat for other fish species, and a cultural touchstone in the area. From grounding in ecosystem service policy goals and a survey of stakeholders from across industry, management, science, and community groups, we developed eight indicators that are meant to serve as a first-order check for EBFM. We evaluated these indicators based on data availability, spatial coverage of the whole region, and relevance to ecosystem service goals. Spatial integration of indicators addressing chemical, biological, social, and economic factors, allows identification of localities within the region that require more attention, either by scientists or policymakers, in order to meet EBFM goals.

Business names, as recorded by state tax departments, offer a possible indicator of cultural ecosystem services provided by nearby natural resources. Using oysters in the Chesapeake Bay as an example, we process spatial and quantitative analyses that can potentially identify cultural value for integration into monitoring efforts that aim to incorporate a variety of ecosystem services. Businesses named directly after oysters provide a useful lens to capture the many reasons people value oysters culturally, but also provide an easy aggregate indicator that could potentially be added to regular regional monitoring programs in order to factor in cultural value to adaptive management policies. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Estuarine benthic organisms are frequently subjected to disturbance events caused by hydrodynamic processes that disrupt and move the sediment in which the animals reside, however the mechanisms by which physical disturbance processes affect infaunal and epifaunal populations and communities remain poorly resolved. The responses of three infaunal and two epifaunal estuarine benthic species to sediment disturbance (burial) were compared in laboratory experiments. Overburden stress (kPa) was calculated to quantify the force exerted on organisms by sediment burial for 6 d. At the levels tested (0–16 kPa), increasing overburden stress did not significantly decrease survival or growth of juvenile burrowing bivalves, Macoma balthica (Linnaeus). Survival of juveniles and adults of the tubiculous polychaete Streblospio benedicti (Webster) and neonates of the burrow-forming amphipod Leptocheirus plumulosus (Shoemaker) declined exponentially with increasing overburden stress. The mean S. benedicti survival rate was 4% of the control at an overburden stress of ≈4 kPa, while an overburden stress of 12 kPa was necessary to comparably reduce survival of L. plumulosus. At the low levels of overburden stress used in the experiments with epifauna (≤0.2 kPa), juvenile oyster Crassostrea virginica (Gmelin) did not suffer significant mortality at an overburden stress of 0.1 kPa. In contrast, the epifaunal tunicate Molgula manhattensis (DeKay) exhibited significant mortality when partially (one or two siphons exposed) or completely buried under sediment with an overburden stress of 0.2 kPa. Species-specific response to burial varied as a function of motility, living position, and inferred physiological tolerance of anoxic conditions while buried. We conclude that some benthic species exhibit mechanical and possibly physiological adaptations that may allow them to survive deposition events of the magnitude commonly encountered in estuarine environments.