{"id":1376942,"date":"2023-12-07T09:45:00","date_gmt":"2023-12-07T09:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/grist.org\/?p=624603"},"modified":"2023-12-07T09:45:00","modified_gmt":"2023-12-07T09:45:00","slug":"how-much-carbon-can-oysters-store-scientists-are-trying-to-find-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2023\/12\/07\/how-much-carbon-can-oysters-store-scientists-are-trying-to-find-out\/","title":{"rendered":"How much carbon can oysters store? Scientists are trying to find out."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
This coverage is made possible through a partnership with <\/em>WABE<\/em><\/a> and<\/em> <\/em>Grist<\/em><\/a>, a nonprofit, independent media organization dedicated to telling stories of climate solutions and a just future.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n On a sunny day this fall, two Georgia Southern University grad students stood waist-deep in the North Newport River near St. Catherine\u2019s Island on Georgia\u2019s coast, while their professor and a team from the Georgia Department of Natural Resources used a winch to lower pallets full of oyster shells into the water. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The students guided the pallets into place on the muddy river bank. Those pallets, piled with shells, will provide a hard surface for baby oysters to latch onto.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe are creating a foundation which wild oysters can populate and grow into a independent reef,\u201d said Cameron Brinton, a marine biologist with DNR.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Oysters used to be abundant here: Georgia led the nation in oyster harvesting in the early 20th century, according to the University of Georgia<\/a>. But by the 1930s, they\u2019d been overharvested. A similar story has played out in other formerly thriving oyster grounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Scientists all along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts<\/a> are trying to bring oyster populations back, and not just because they\u2019re a popular food. Oysters are also important for healthy coastal ecosystems. And researchers are now studying how creating new oyster reefs could help fight climate change by sequestering carbon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Oysters, Brinton explained, are a keystone species. That means they create habitat for other critters, from small shrimp and crabs to fish like red drum and spotted sea trout that are popular for fishing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe majority of commercially and recreationally important species of fish and shellfish will spend a portion of their life associated with oyster reefs,\u201d Brinton said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And scientists are studying two ways that oyster reefs suck up and store carbon. First, they keep the sediment in the river from washing away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere’s lots of organic matter in this sediment in the rivers here,\u201d said John Carroll, a professor of biology at Georgia Southern. \u201cSo some of that organic matter gets buried behind the reefs.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Organic matter has carbon in it, so the oyster reefs can store that carbon and keep it from warming the planet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Second, by stabilizing the shoreline, oyster reefs also help marshes expand \u2014 and marshes themselves are very good at storing carbon<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAs the marsh grasses grow toward the reefs, they’ll also trap a lot of carbon,\u201d Carroll said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n