RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Ecosystem stability and Native American oyster harvesting along the Atlantic Coast of the United States
JF Science Advances
JO Sci Adv
FD American Association for the Advancement of Science
SP eaba9652
DO 10.1126/sciadv.aba9652
VO 6
IS 28
A1 Thompson, Victor D.
A1 Rick, Torben
A1 Garland, Carey J.
A1 Thomas, David Hurst
A1 Smith, Karen Y.
A1 Bergh, Sarah
A1 Sanger, Matt
A1 Tucker, Bryan
A1 Lulewicz, Isabelle
A1 Semon, Anna M.
A1 Schalles, John
A1 Hladik, Christine
A1 Alexander, Clark
A1 Ritchison, Brandon T.
YR 2020
UL http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/6/28/eaba9652.abstract
AB The eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) is an important proxy for examining historical trajectories of coastal ecosystems. Measurement of ~40,000 oyster shells from archaeological sites along the Atlantic Coast of the United States provides a long-term record of oyster abundance and size. The data demonstrate increases in oyster size across time and a nonrandom pattern in their distributions across sites. We attribute this variation to processes related to Native American fishing rights and environmental variability. Mean oyster length is correlated with total oyster bed length within foraging radii (5 and 10 km) as mapped in 1889 and 1890. These data demonstrate the stability of oyster reefs despite different population densities and environmental shifts and have implications for oyster reef restoration in an age of global climate change.