DOMINIC McAFEE - Marine Ecologist, University of Adelaide - Restoring Lost Oyster Reefs

We have lost around 85% of oyster reefs. That’s not only the loss of oysters but also the habitat they provide other marine animals and plants. Oysters are amazing, not only do some create pearls but as sequential hermaphrodites, they can switch between male and female almost on a daily basis.

Dr. Dominic McAfee is a researcher at the University of Adelaide in Australia. His work centers around restoring lost marine ecosystems, specifically shellfish reefs. Along with employing novel technology and reef restoration projects, he seeks to understand how oysters enhance the resilience and function of coastal ecosystems. He seeks to develop conservation messaging strategies that enhance public engagement via conservation optimism.

"We've lost something like 85% of oyster reefs globally. In Australia it's over 99%. We've smashed this ecosystem to smithereens. It covered something like 7,000 kilometers of coastline and the flat oyster reef, for example, the flat oysters, one type of oyster that we work with were completely removed from the Australian mainland, and about 5,000 kilometers of reef destroyed in a very short period of time. And because of the intensity with which the coastlines were modified following European settlement of Australia, they haven't been able to come back naturally.  

We've been using healthy marine sounds with underwater speakers to attract oysters to these reefs. So when the historical native habitat was lost, it also lost the sound that was associated with those reefs, that sound created by the millions of animals that live in that complex habitat. Now there's recognition that anthropogenic noise, noise from shipping and motorboats, and other urban noise is masking the natural sounds of the sea and dominating the soundscape as we call it. We're hoping that we can counteract some of those negative impacts of anthropogenic noise by playing healthy marine sounds."

https://researchers.adelaide.edu.au/profile/dominic.mcafee

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