Research Symposium

BIO

While majoring in Biological Sciences, I have placed emphasis on marine biology. I hope to pursue graduate school before working in marine research. I am originally from Cartersville, Georgia but hope to spend much of my career traveling to various marine environments across the globe.

Photogrammetric Modeling of Artificial Reefs to Measure Reef Accretion

Abstract

Oysters are a foundation species in Apalachicola Bay and they provide many ecological and ecosystem services to this productive and valuable ecosystem, including habitat for an array of commercially and ecologically important species. The oyster fishery in Apalachicola Bay collapsed in 2013 and oysters have continued to decline despite significant restoration efforts. Restoring the lost ecosystem services in Apalachicola Bay will require understanding the recovery potential of the historical reef sites and ensuring that they are responding to restoration efforts. The goals of this research are to provide insight into how quickly oysters and other reef species recruit and grow on artificial complex habitats. Artificial reef structures were deployed at sites across the bay spanning a gradient of environmental conditions. These structures are being surveyed for recruitment and calculations of total volume every 6 months using photogrammetric techniques, for 2 years (ending in April 2024) to quantify accretion rates at each site. Data will be analyzed to understand how environmental conditions influence the colonization and growth of oysters and other benthic fauna across the bay. These data will help understand how environmental characteristics influence recovery of oyster reef associated communities and identify the most promising sites for successful future restoration efforts

Keywords: marine, photogrammetric modeling, restoration