Modeling Oyster Reef Reproductive Sustainability: Analyzing Gamete Viability, Hydrodynamics, and Reef Structure to Facilitate Restoration of Crassostrea virginica

The eastern oyster is a keystone species and ecosystem engineer. However, restoration efforts of wild oysters are often unsuccessful, in that they do not produce a robust population of oysters that are able to successfully reproduce. Furthermore, the dynamics of wild oyster fertilization is not yet well understood. Through conducting an experiment predicated on quantifying the influence of elementary aspects of fertilization kinetics--sperm concentration, gamete age, and success rate--we found that, as stochastic as the mating process may seem, there are correlations which fundamentally serve as the framework for assessing long-term sustainability, reef structure, and hydrodynamic parameters in relation to fertilization. We then focused on mathematically defining a procedure which simulated a concentration distribution of a single sperm and egg release where there existed conditions necessary for breeding to take place. We found a very significant impact of both gamete age and sperm concentration on fertilization rate (p < 0.0001). Our hydrodynamic model demonstrates that distance can also drastically influence broadcast spawning. This could be used as a foundation for developing a flexible model for wild oyster fertilization based on placement, initial seawater conditions, and size of the starting population. The results of this research could be implemented into a more user-friendly program which would accept multiple variables as inputs and output the probability of fertilization given arbitrary values. By accounting for environmental deviations, this generalization would increase its compatibility with the public and actualize the projects intended purpose: enhance the planning of oyster reef restoration projects.