Monitoring of oyster and epifauna populations at a constructed oyster reef (Big Tree Reef), St Charles Bay, Texas from 2017 to 2019

In July 2017, dead oyster shells were used to construct a ~1.83 ha artificial reef adjacent to the Goose Island State Park, Big Tree Unit to support oyster production and habitat provision. The reef complex was constructed as a series of seven rectangular mounds 40 m long x 10 m wide x 0.33 m high.

Epifauna (>1 mm) and oysters were collected using sampling trays that were deployed at four restored reef sites, and four reference (unrestored) sites on a nearby natural reef on 2017-08-07 and 2017-08-08 and retrieved without replacement. Epifauna and oysters from the trays were collected monthly from 18 September (three weeks after Hurricane Harvey hit) to 2017-11-13, and quarterly thereafter (from 2018-02 to 2019-02) for a total of eight sampling events. Epifauna species were identified to the lowest practical identifiable level (LPIL; usually species) and counted. Shell height was measured for oysters larger than 25 mm. Oysters >25 mm shell height were assessed to determine prevalence and intensity of Perkinsus marinus, the protozoan parasite responsible for Dermo disease.

Soft-sediment Infauna (>0.5 mm) were sampled in triplicate at three sites <5 m from the reef, and three sites ~30 m from the reef using a 6.3-cm core tube to a sediment depth of 10 cm. Infauna species were identified to the LPIL (usually species) and counted. Sediment grain size and organic content was also sampled at the soft sediment sites.

Discrete measurements of the environmental variables (e.g., temperature, dissolved oxygen, salinity, turbidity) were made at the surface and the bottom of the water column at multiple sampling sites on each sampling date using a YSI data sonde.

Dataset is associated to publication: Martinez Meghan J., Palmer Terence A., Breaux Natasha J., Beseres Pollack Jennifer. Dynamics of Restored and Natural Oyster Reefs After a Hurricane. Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution 10. 2022. DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2022.791739.