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The Effect of Salinity on Eastern Oyster Reproduction in the Hudson River Estuary

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The Effect of Salinity on Eastern Oyster Reproduction in the Hudson River Estuary THE EFFECT OF SALINITY ON EASTERN OYSTER REPRODUCTION IN THE HUDSON RIVER ESTUARY A Final Report of the Tibor T. Polgar Fellowship Program Kaili M. Gregory Polgar Fellow Environmental and Sustainability Sciences Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853 Project Advisor: Matthew Hare Department of Natural Resources Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853 Gregory, M. K. and M. Hare. 2020. The Effect of Salinity on Eastern Oyster Reproduction in the Hudson River Estuary. Section IV:1-43 pp. In S.H. Fernald, D.J. Yozzo, and H. Andreyko (eds.), Final Reports of the Tibor T. Polgar Fellowship Program, 2018. Hudson River Foundation. IV-1 ABSTRACT Oysters have largely been missing from the Hudson River Estuary (HRE) since the early 1900s due to human activity, pollution and overharvesting. Water quality has been steadily improving in the estuary and coupled with the discovery of a wild remnant population, restoration is looking more feasible. Water quality factors such as dissolved oxygen, pH, and salinity can have effects on the survival and effectiveness of oysters. This research focuses on the effect of salinity on the timing of gametogenesis in eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica) between June and August 2018 in the Hudson River Estuary (HRE). Gametogenesis was monitored in 2-year old oysters from experimental cage populations in the HRE. Adult oysters from a remnant population were transplanted to diverse salinities so growth rate and survivorship could be measured and compared. Gametogenesis was evaluated using a histological gonad index, ranking the amount and maturity of gametes in the oyster gonad on a scale of 0-10. A GI value of 5 represents peak maturation, and a value of 6 represents active spawning. Based on literature, it was hypothesized that oyster gametogenesis would be delayed in lower salinity water relative to higher salinities in the Hudson River Estuary. The reproductive pattern was not a simple shift of the whole reproductive cycle, as predicted. A more dramatically altered reproductive phenology within the seasonal period studied was observed. The northern, low salinity sites started spawning earlier and spawned for longer through the reproductive season than the high salinity oysters. The results of this study demonstrate that adult oysters from the remnant wild population are flexible and tolerant of higher salinity conditions, and regardless of genetic strain, oysters change the timing of their reproductive output depending on the salinity where they live. IV-2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ................................................................................................................ IV-2 Table of Contents ................................................................................................. IV-3 Lists of Figures and Tables .................................................................................. IV-4 Introduction .......................................................................................................... IV-5 Methods................................................................................................................ IV-11 Tappan Zee wild adult collection and transplant ..................................... IV-13 Monitoring of oysters and sampling for histology ................................... IV-14 Histology preparation and Condition Index ............................................. IV-15 Histology slide analysis ........................................................................... IV-17 Statistical analyses ................................................................................... IV-18 Results .................................................................................................................. IV-19 Discussion ............................................................................................................ IV-27 Acknowledgments................................................................................................ IV-33 References ............................................................................................................ IV-34 Appendix ............................................................................................................. IV-37 IV-3 LIST OF FIGURES AND TABLES Figure 1 – Map of Hare Lab study sites ............................................................... IV-12 Figure 2 – Shucked oyster anatomy. .................................................................... IV-16 Figure 3 – Averaged weekly temperature data .................................................... IV-19 Figure 4 – Averaged weekly salinity data ............................................................ IV-20 Figure 5 – Gonad index means and 95% confidence intervals - June ................. IV-22 Figure 6 – Gonad index means and 95% confidence intervals - July .................. IV-23 Figure 7 – Gonad index means and 95% confidence intervals - August ............. IV-24 Figure 8 –June GI vs. shell height ...................................................................... IV-25 Figure 9 – July GI vs. shell height ....................................................................... IV-25 Figure 10 – August GI vs. shell height ................................................................ IV-25 Figure 11 – Gonad Index vs. Condition Index ..................................................... IV-26 Figure 12 – Shell height over time (growth) for wild dredged TZ-HB adults ..... IV-27 Table 1 – Counts of oysters sampled for histology.............................................. IV-14 Table 2 – Description of Gonad Index stages ...................................................... IV-17 Table 3 – ANOVA results for effect on GI by all tested variables ...................... IV-20 IV-4 INTRODUCTION Crassostrea virginica, commonly known as the eastern oyster, was historically abundant in the Hudson River Estuary. In the nineteenth and early twentieth century, oysters were one of New York City’s top exports (Kurlansky 2006). Hudson River oysters made it as far as Chicago, St. Louis, San Francisco, and even to Great Britain. In 1842, around $6 million worth of oysters were being sold in New York City. Adjusting for inflation, that would be over $25 million in today’s economy. Eating oysters was common and desired by people around the country (Kurlansky 2006). New York City might be known today as the Big Apple, but back then the Big Oyster would have been more appropriate. As New York’s population grew, so did its pollution levels. Sewage and other types of waste were dumped into the estuary, harming the millions of oysters that lived on the bottom. Due to a synergistic mix of water pollution, eutrophication, disease and overharvesting, the once-abundant oyster beds near New York City were mostly dead by the beginning of the 20th century. Harvesting from the HRE beds was outlawed in 1920s (Kurlansky 2006; MacKenzie 2007). Oyster populations are currently absent from most of the Hudson River Estuary, but new data provides some hope for restoring this keystone species to a more ecologically functional population despite the highly altered conditions now existing in this urban estuary. The water quality of the Hudson River Estuary has been steadily improving for the past thirty years (Stinnette et al. 2018). Legislation such as the Clean Water Act of 1972 and the New York State Pure Waters Bond Act of 1965 prompted key initiatives to clean up the Hudson. New sewage treatment plants have since been built along the IV-5 estuary, and efforts by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and New York City Department of Environmental Protection have made positive strides towards cleaning up the HRE. The water is now generally safe to swim in, and more fish species are entering the estuary (Stinnette et al. 2018). This long-term trend towards a cleaner estuary system creates potential for restoration of a self-sustaining oyster population. A successful restoration is characterized by a population large enough to be self- sustaining with measurable positive effects on ecosystem function. The eastern oyster is a keystone species, serving as a bioengineer that shapes its environment in ways that increase biodiversity and can indicate ecosystem health (Raj and Reson 2008). The population’s decline in the twentieth century left the estuary without this important biological and ecological keystone species. The oyster’s reputation as a keystone species is based on several attributes. Oysters are filter feeders, drawing water through their gills in order to obtain food. A single oyster can filter 50-55 gallons of water per day, removing particulates, detritus and dissolved pollutants (Raj and Reson 2008). Their effectiveness as filter feeders makes them reliable indicators of ecosystem health. Large populations of oysters in the Chesapeake Bay have been shown to improve water quality in more shallow, mesohaline parts of the estuary (Coen et al. 2007). The water filtration process creates a positive feedback loop such that cleaner water promotes oyster survival and more diverse benthic communities. Additionally, the physical structure of an oyster bed provides habitat to numerous estuarine invertebrates and fish stocks that are economically important to humans (Peterson et al. 2003). IV-6 A wild remnant population of Crassostrea virginica was discovered just south of the Tappan Zee bridge in the Haverstraw Bay portion of the HRE (Figure 1) where average salinity is low. Near the remnant
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