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A GIS-based Decision Support Tool
for Oyster Reef Habitat Restoration
Seth Theuerkauf, Brandon Puckett, David Eggleston
PhD Candidate, DoD NDSEG Fellow
ESRI Ocean GIS Forum 2016
Oyster ReefsProvide valuable ecosystem services
and economic benefits
Credit: Nate GeraldiCredit: Dave Eggleston
0 Oysters 20 Oysters 40
Oysters
essential fish habitat shoreline protection
water filtration
Global Oyster Reef Declines
Credit: Beck et al. 2011, BioScience
Reef Restoration
• Life history: dispersive larval stage
• Goal: provide settlement habitat & catalyze reef development
• Challenge: identifying optimal locations in estuary to restore
www.njdmf.org
Emergence of GIS-based
Decision Support Tools
• Goal: identify optimal restoration areas within vast bodies of water
• How: spatially integrate relevant biophysical and socioeconomic factors
? unsuitable
suitable
Oyster Restoration in North
Carolina• < 2% natural reefs
remain
Credit: Jay Fleming
Oyster Restoration in North
Carolina• < 2% natural reefs
remain
• DMF sanctuary program Goal: restore an interconnected network of protected reefs
• Knowledge gap: where best to focus restoration efforts
A GIS-based Decision Support Tool
for Oyster Sanctuary Restoration in NC
Tool Development
4. Conduct sensitivity analysis, model validation
3. Develop GIS-based suitability model
2. Assemble spatial data
1. Prioritize relevant spatial factors
1. Prioritize relevant spatial
factors• Biological (e.g., larval dispersal)
• Environmental (e.g., salinity)
• Socioeconomic (e.g., military zones)
How?
2. Assemble spatial data
Exclusion
• Criteria is either met, or not
Threshold
• Each layer reclassified according to known relationships
2. Assemble spatial data
Exclusion• Bathymetry
• Sediment
• SAV presence
• Nursery areas
• Shellfish leases
• Navigational channels
• Military zones
2. Assemble spatial data
Threshold
• Larval connectivity
• Salinity
• Dissolved oxygen
• Material stockpile
sites
• Boat rampsADCIRC (Advanced Circulation Model)
+ Particle Tracking Model (PTM)Puckett and Eggleston (2012)
3. Develop GIS-based suitability
model• Weight threshold layers based on importance
• Filter based on all exclusion layers
23% 20% 15% 11%
+ + + + … = 100%Larval
ExportSalinity Larval
Import
Dissolved
Oxygen
3. Develop GIS-based suitability
model
4. Conduct sensitivity analysis,
model validation
23% 20% 15% 11%
4. Conduct sensitivity analysis,
model validation
• Goal: identify areas that maximize fish production & recreational fishing opportunities
• Incorporate:- ~20 years of trawl
survey data
- larval fish ingress modeling
Reef-associated Fish Habitat
Next Steps: Integration of
Ecosystem Services
• Goal: identify areas that maximize water quality enhancement benefits
• Incorporate:- ~10 years calibrated
MERIS chlorophyll a
- water flow velocities (ADCIRC)
- dissolved oxygen
- variability of all factors
Next Steps: Integration of
Ecosystem ServicesOyster Filtration
Making Tool Accessible
maps.coastalresilience.org
Acknowledgements• Rodney Guajardo (NCNERRS), Craig Hardy (NCDMF), Rick Luettich
(UNC-CH), Jie Gao (UNC-CH), Ernie Hain (NCDMF), Robert Weaver
(UNC-CH), Corbett Kerr (UNC-CH), Craig Layman (NCSU), Pat Halpin
(Duke), Marine Ecology Lab (NCSU)
• Funding agencies and partners:
Contact InfoSeth Theuerkauf, [email protected]