Culture
Scared Strong: Harnessing the Ecology of Fear to Improve Oyster Restoration
About the event
Speaker: Dr. Lee Smee
Professor of Marine and Environmental Sciences, University of South Alabama
Many prey species alter their morphology in response to predation risk, increasing survival but often at a cost to growth or reproduction. Harnessing these induced defenses could improve the success of restoration and aquaculture efforts. Eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica) respond to chemical cues from predators and injured conspecifics by producing stronger shells. We tested whether these predator-induced defenses could be used to improve oyster survival and restoration outcomes.…
