Since
HPL was established in 1977 there has been an active research program
into bivalve ecology, with special emphasis on the study of the eastern
oyster, Crassostrea virginica.
One of the first facilities developed
with Maryland State funding on the HPL campus was a research and production
hatchery for eastern oysters, and this program is currently directed
by Don Meritt in the new AREL building. Fundamental research projects
on bivalves are currently being undertaken by Roger Newell
and Vic Kennedy. The home pages of these investigators list
recent publications, including the book that they edited in 1996 reviewing
the extensive scientific
literature on the eastern oyster.
Current
research projects include comparing the biology of the native eastern oyster
to that of the asian oyster, Crassostrea
ariakensis. This
latter species is being evaluated by Maryland Department of Natural Resources
as a candidate species for introduction to Chesapeake Bay to supplement
the eastern oyster. Intensive harvesting of eastern oysters in the 19th
century led to a severe decline in oyster stocks and their reef habitat
(Kennedy and Breisch 1981). This loss of material, in combination with
shell becoming covered in sediment from erosion and resuspension, led
to a steady decline in the clean shell necessary for oyster larval settlement.
In addition, since the 1950's, two major parasitic diseases, MSX (Haplosporidium
nelsoni) and Dermo (Perkinsus marinus), exacerbated the
harvest-related decline in oysters in Chesapeake Bay. Currently, we are
comparing the vulnerability of the asian oyster to the native predators
that serve to control eastern oyster populations. Recent research (Newell
et al. 2000) has shown that of the eastern oysters that successfully
metamorphose, less than 0.1% survive to their first winter. This indicates
that if the asian oyster is a susceptible to the same suite of predators
it may not escape predator control to become a nuisance species. |
