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Oyster Population Model for Guana Tolomato Matanzas Reserve

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The Eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) is a keystone species in northeast Florida estuaries, but the region faces multiple threats to the long-term viability of oyster populations. As part of a project to improve oyster population sustainability and management at the Guana Tolomato Matanzas National Estuarine Research Reserve, researchers developed a mathematical model of oyster population dynamics.

About this resource

The project developed a locally calibrated population dynamics model, specifically an Integral Projection Model (IPM), to assess the relative influence of different demographic processes on oyster population sustainability. This model can be used by scientists, managers and stakeholders in the Guana Tolomato Matanzas estuary to assess oyster population sustainability.

The model uses R code and is available on GitHub along with project datasets used in model development and model documentation.

Explore the modeling files

There are two main components available on GitHub:

  1. One R package implements a population model analysis of data from oyster populations at 7 sites in GTM to assess the relative contribution to population sustainability of oysters at each site. This information is intended to be useful in planning restoration and management decisions. To learn more, read this: Read Me introduction.
  2. The model relies on estimates of oyster mortality rates and growth rates at each site. An additional set of files are available that explain how to analyze data to obtain those model parameters. The intent is for this to be adaptable for future data collected at GTM, or in any location. To learn more, read this explanation: NERR Oyster Growth and Mortality

To access all the project modeling files, visit: https://github.com/jwilsonwhite/NERR_science

Project datasets

The model was built using locally-specific data on oyster growth, natural mortality, predation, and environmental factors. This field data was collected under a complementary National Science Foundation project and some of the datasets have been archived at GitHub. Data can also be accessed through the Biological and Chemical Oceanography Data Management Office (BCO-DMO): https://www.bco-dmo.org/award/70993 and on Zenodo: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3661419

Additional information about the field data and its application is available in this journal article:

Kimbro DL, Tillotson HG, White JW. 2020. Environmental forcing and the consumptive effects of predation outweigh the nonconsumptive effects of multiple predators on estuarine oysters. Ecology 101:e03041. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.3041

Contacts:

Will White, Oregon State University, will.white@oregonstate.edu
David Kimbro, Northeastern University
Laura Storch, Oregon State University