Acute storms (e.g. hurricanes) are major stressors to eastern oysters (Crassostrea virginica) through burying oysters and settlement substrate. Subsequently, managers use many restoration efforts, of which one approach is bag-less dredging. This resurfaces relic shells as settlement substrate; however, buried shells turn black in anoxic sediments potentially influencing spat settlement. This study compared three shell types: sun-cured white shell utilized in oyster reef restoration and two representative black shell types for bag-less dredging. Settlement was significantly higher on sun-cured white shell suggesting that restoration activities resurfacing black shells may not provide suitable substrate and alternative methods of providing substrate should be prioritized.

中文翻译：

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遗迹贝壳能否成为牡蛎礁修复的有效沉降基质？

通过掩埋牡蛎和沉降基质，急性风暴（例如飓风）是东部牡蛎（Crassostrea virginica）的主要压力源。随后，管理人员进行了许多修复工作，其中一种方法是无袋疏浚。这使遗物贝壳重新浮出水面作为沉降基质；然而，埋藏的贝壳在缺氧沉积物中变黑，可能会影响卵的沉降。本研究比较了三种贝壳类型：用于牡蛎礁修复的晒干白贝壳和用于无袋疏浚的两种具有代表性的黑色贝壳类型。晒干的白色贝壳的沉降明显更高，这表明重铺黑色贝壳的修复活动可能无法提供合适的基材，应优先考虑提供基材的替代方法。