Biogenic Reef 2016

      The Biogenic reef at Cherry Point has been a tremendous ecological success story that we continue to study.  This past year several students have used the reef to study the macroalgal community (seaweed)  as well as the success of the reef from an oyster restoration standpoint.  The macroalgal community on the biogenic reef was far more developed in diversity and abundance than areas we studied in the Rappahannock.  We attribute this to the  supply of zygotes that are entering the mouth of the Piankatank which is more open to the Bay and ultimately the ocean, as well as the fact that turbidity in the lower Piankatank is less than the Rappahannock.  In terms of oyster reef restoration, we found that the biogenic reef was truly that, home to a diverse assemblage of organisms and not solely oysters.  There is a mix of oysters, mussels and barnacles, all important filter feeders, who contribute to improved water quality as they consume phytoplankton and help remove sediments.  We found that Ready Reef pyramids were actually the winners in our oyster reef comparison study as they provided the least competition for space and optimized the growth and success of just the oysters.  Taylor floats proved to be the least effective oyster restoration strategy we examined because the density of the oysters was too high and they offer little in the way of overall sustained habitat value.  The biogenic reef is the hands-down winner for diversity, durability and ecosystem enrichment as you can easily glean from the photos here.
      For 2017 we have an ambitious plan to look at the ecological succession on the reef over time, using the data we have already collected as well as this upcoming summer.  We are going to do some experiments to see how much influence blue crabs have on organizing the life on the reef.  Do they consume mussels more than oysters?  Will mussels outcompete the oysters for space on the reef?  Also, we would like to continue to catalog the organisms and fish we find on and around the reef, which has been a really fun marine biological exercise.  We continue to thank the Cherry Point homeowners for their generosity in allowing us to study their wonderful reef!