1. Printing: This poster is 48” wide by 36” high. It’s designed to be printed on a large-format printer. Customizing the Content: The placeholders in this poster are formatted for you. Type in the placeholders to add text, or click an icon to add a table, chart, SmartArt graphic, picture or multimedia file. To add or remove bullet points from text, click the Bullets button on the Home tab. If you need more placeholders for titles, content or body text, make a copy of what you need and drag it into place. PowerPoint’s Smart Guides will help you align it with everything else. Want to use your own pictures instead of ours? No problem! Just click a picture, press the Delete key, then click the icon to add your picture. The Eastern Oyster (Crassostrea virginica) Population Dynamics and Restoration Rachel E. Willis | Wake Technical Community College Summary There are many aspects to understanding and responsibly managing North Carolina’s natural resources and estuarine ecosystems. Dr. David Eggleston’s laboratory group at North Carolina State University’s Center for Marine Sciences and Technology is involved in a variety of research projects regarding Eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) population dynamics and restoration in Pamlico Sound and surrounding areas. Some of this research includes quantifying oyster density, assessing water quality, determining oyster filtration rates, and tracking oyster larval settlement. Oysters provide many ecosystem services and play an important role in maintaining the health of these ecosystems. They provide habitat for a variety of species and protect shorelines and marshes from erosion. They are involved in nutrient cycling and are responsible for removing some inorganic pollutants. Historical evidence reveals a substantial decline in the oyster population of North Carolina- this decline has diminished the capacity for oysters to adequately filter local waters. Project Overview Data / Observations At the end of the 600 minutes, the water quality had noticeably improved in the tanks containing oysters. The tank containing 40 oysters showed the greatest improvement. Conclusion These results reveal the impact of oyster filtration capabilities, the importance of a healthy oyster population, and the influence it has on maintaining water filtration and water quality. This research can help us to understand the Eastern Oyster’s role in maintaining healthy estuarine ecosystems, as well as provide insight on how to enhance and utilize the ecosystem services of the Easter Oyster through conservation and restoration. Methods We used three 10 gallon tanks, each filled with 7.5 gallons of unfiltered Bogue Sound seawater. All three tanks were oxygenated with air stones. There were two different treatment groups: 1) low density, containing 10 oysters and 2) high density, containing 40 oysters and a control containing no oysters. To each tank we added 15mL of InstantAlgae concentrated shellfish diet and stirred for even distribution. Light conditions were kept constant and photos were taken every 5 minutes for 600 minutes. Our goal is to determine oyster filtration rates and establish how a decline in the oyster population is affecting North Carolina’s estuarine ecosystems. To demonstrate the Eastern Oyster’s filtration capabilities we set up a tank demonstration with varying oyster densities. Hypothesis  Through determining oyster filtrations rates and completing the tank demonstration, we expect to see the most substantial water quality improvements in the tank with the highest density of oysters. Tank Demo