oyster in Biological News

National Science Foundation grant expands UMCES oyster research

Cambridge, Md. (October 2, 2008) To help improve the success of oyster restoration efforts in the Chesapeake Bay, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science researcher Dr. Elizabeth North is leading a team of scientists in a new in-depth study to determine when oysters spawn and wher...

Tropical crab invades Georgia oyster reefs -- but the long-term impact can't be predicted

A dime-sized tropical crab that has invaded coastal waters in the Southeast United States is having both positive and negative effects on oyster reefs, leaving researchers unable to predict what the creatures long-term impact will be. Unlike native crabs that eat baby oysters, mussels and fish,...

Sequencing of the oyster mushroom genome

Professor of Microbiology at the Public University of Navarre, Antonio Gerardo Pisabarro de Lucas, is leading an international project to sequence the genome of the oyster mushroom. The project research team is composed of scientists from nineteen universities and research centres from Europe, Cana...

UNH researcher restoring oyster reefs to Great Bay

In the past decade, the oyster population in New Hampshire's Great Bay estuary has plummeted by 90 percent, due to the 1995 arrival of the oyster disease MSX. The previous century saw a slower but equally devastating demise of oysters from exuberant overharvesting. "We have seen local extinction on...

Global warming increases oyster sensitivity to pollution

Do you enjoy eating oysters on a hot sunny afternoon? Make the most of it ?it may not last forever. Research has shown that global warming increases the sensitivity of oysters to metal pollution, causing a deadly threat to populations in polluted areas. Dr. Gisela Lannig from the University of Nort...

Advances in the characterisation of the oyster mushroom genes

The oyster mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus), apart from reducing cholesterol and having anticancerogenic properties, is characterised for its capacity for breaking down cellulose. Finding out which genes are responsible for this activity ?the reason why the fungus is sometimes used as a decontaminati...

Shellfish face an uncertain future in a high CO2 world

...sters, and the many species that depend on them, beyond a critical tipping point remains to be seen" said Miller. With numbers so critically lowthe oyster population in the Chesapeake Bay today stands at just 2 percent of what it was in colonial timesfuture losses could have dire consequences, both envir...

Virginia Tech graduate student receives first Rachel Carson award for scientific excellence

...mes for the culture and propagation of endangered freshwater mussels. She successfully cultured the endangered northern riffleshell, spiny mussel, and oyster mussel. Mair received the award, named in honor of renowned ecologist Rachel Carson, author of the groundbreaking book Silent Spring, from U.S. Fi...

UD research study to shed light on emerging seaborne pathogen

...s of dollars each year due to the contamination of oyster beds with V. parahaemolyticus during the summer months. Thus, providing oyster farmers with an agent to treat the oysters is an i...s likely to continue to expand," Boyd notes. An oyster filters its food from the seawater in which it liv...

Human connection to our nation's fisheries comes alive through oral history project

...add interviews from other regions of the country and from U.S. territories such as the Pacific Islands. Interviews with net maker Charles Thompson and oyster shucker Janice Richards, both from Apalachicola, Fla., have recently been added to the collection. Project partners include MIT Sea Grant, Rutgers ...

Brainy genes, not brawn, key to success on mussel beach

... to a hotter world. In addition, there are implications for understanding sudden summer mortality syndrome, a mysterious die-off that can devastate oyster farms, and which is believed to be linked to a stress event like heat. Gene oscillation as survival strategy Expressing genes in waves appears...

Algal biomonitor

...ined could help reduce the economic impact on fisheries, recreational activities, and aquaculture sites, such as salmon and shellfish farms, and pearl oyster farms. It could also help decrease the outbreaks of food poisoning due to contamination of seafood by the toxins some of these algae produce. Senji...

Restoring Alabama's coast

... Orange Beach. Both of these projects will utilize oyster shell breakwaters to protect eroding shorelines an... the DISL include the Mobile County Bay Front Park oyster Reef Breakwater research project and the Helen Woo... Conservancy, and the Mobile County Bay Front Park oyster Reef Breakwater research project. All of the ...

Smells like bees' spirit

...C-funded* team explain how they used radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology (the same electronic tagging system used in a London Underground oyster card) to automatically record the activity of bees in the lab. Different colonies of bumblebees ( Bombus terrestris ) were stocked with different ...

American Chemical Society’s Weekly PressPac -- May 7, 2008

...and laboratory-scale tests of a continuous microwave system which, much like a kitchen microwave oven, used heat to inactivate zooplankton, algae, and oyster larvae in salt water. Researchers found that a 30-second zap, followed by a 200-second holding period, removed all marine life. Boldor noted that the ...

Underwater microscope helps prevent shellfish poisoning along Gulf Coast of Texas

... in coastal Texas, Campbell and colleagues collected water samples to confirm that algal toxins were present in the water. Other researchers collected oyster samples and sent them for toxin analysis at a U.S. Food and Drug Administration laboratory. On March 8, the Texas Department of State Health Servic...

Streams natural filters, if not overloaded

...stream lakes and coastal marine waters, said Jack Webster, professor of biology at Virginia Tech. Eutrophication in the Chesapeake Bay has damaged the oyster industry in Virginia and in the Gulf of Mexico, the Mississippi River has created a vast zone of oxygen depletion with adverse effects on fisheries. ...

Why do oysters choose to live where they could be eaten?

...ture reproductive success. However, in the case of oyster larvae, the selection of a place to call home can ...e the risk of being eaten by cannibalistic adults, oyster larvae choose to settle in areas of high oyster concentrations to take advantage of future benefit...

Rising ocean temperatures, pollution have oysters in hot water

...6: Integrating Diversity in Virginia Beach. oyster population decimated Oysters once thrived in...nd increased pollution have combined to reduce the oyster population to 5% of what it was 200 years ago, Sok...ations. "We can't even imagine the expanse of oyster reefs 100-200 years ago and their impact on the ec...

New peptide antibiotic isolated from American oyster

...solated a new peptide antibiotic from the American oyster that may have implications for managing many disea...oysters. The new antimicrobial peptide "American oyster defensin" (AOD) may protect against bacteria in Cr...lso allow for the development of a test to monitor oyster health," says Ed Noga, professor at the North Caro...

Oysters: The natural way to protect our shores

...storation Ecology finds that in coastal Louisiana, oyster reefs help to deter erosion. oyster reefs are self-sustaining, and are additionally at...bute to overall ecosystem stability and quality. oyster larvae move in groups and water-borne chemicals st...

Restaurant seafood prices since 1850s help plot marine harvests through history

...opening up of new deep areas on the outer continental shelf, 200 miles (322 km) offshore." Among other observations gained from the archived menus: oyster prices remained relatively flat for some 100 years, then climbed at twice the inflation rate starting in the 1950s. And the price of a wild canvasb...

Use of high hydrostatic pressure to inactivate Hepatitis A virus in oysters studied

...gh hydrostatic pressure treatment of raw oysters is especially appealing to oyster processors and distributors, as well as public health officials. HPP makes ...n addition to its core programs, Virginia Sea Grant coordinates research in oyster disease and toxics in the Chesapeake Bay. ...