Poster Presentation Australian Marine Sciences Association 2026 Conference

The Impact of Warming and Hyposalinity on Filtration Services and Community Structure on Restored Shellfish Reefs. (139154)

Ben Sones 1 , Francesca Roncolato 1 2 3 , Robbie Porter 4 , Ben Gilby 5 , Karen Cheney 1 2 3 , Benjamin Mos 1 2 3
  1. School of the Environment , The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
  2. Centre for Marine Science, The University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
  3. Moreton Bay Research Station, The University of Queensland, Dunwich/Goompi, QLD, Australia
  4. OzFish Unlimited Ltd, Ballina, NSW, Australia
  5. School of Science, Technology and Engineering, The University of the Sunshine Coast, Petrie, QLD, Australia

The universal loss of shellfish reefs and consequently the loss of the intrinsic social, cultural, environmental and economic value these ecosystems provide has prompted widespread restoration efforts [1-3]. However, in the face of a changing climate, restoration efforts need to consider increasingly severe and frequent floods and heatwaves, and the potential impact on restored shellfish reefs [4]. In this study, we examined how individual stressors: warming from 20 to 32 °C and decreasing salinity from (36 to 6 ppt), and the order in which these stressors occurred, impacted the filtration performance and community composition of subtropical shellfish communities that had colonised modular restoration structures (Robust Oyster Baskets, ROBs) in Quandamooka/Moreton Bay [5]. We found that the order of stressors impacted community clearance rates, and in extreme hyposaline conditions, clearance rates declined by up to 70%. Additionally, abundance of key taxa such as filter feeders (rock oysters, hairy mussels and quampies/pearl oysters) and gastropods declined across successive treatments (up to 46 % and over 95 % respectively) when temperature was increased first, followed by hyposaline conditions. This research is vital to understand the potential impacts of climate change on restored reefs and their ecosystem services and highlights the need to consider climate projections when undertaking restoration.

  1. Saunders, M. I., Doropoulos, C., Bayraktarov, E., Babcock, R. C., Gorman, D., Eger, A. M., Vozzo, M. L., Gillies, C. L., Vanderklift, M. A., Steven, A. D. L., Bustamante, R. H., & Silliman, B. R. (2020). Bright spots in coastal marine ecosystem restoration. Current Biology, 30(24), R1500–R1510.
  2. Beck, M. W., Brumbaugh, R. D., Airoldi, L., Carranza, A., Coen, L. D., Crawford, C., Defeo, O., Edgar, G. J., Hancock, B., Kay, M. C., Lenihan, H. S., Luckenbach, M. W., Toropova, C. L., Zhang, G., & Guo, X. (2011). Oyster Reefs at Risk and Recommendations for Conservation, Restoration, and Management. BioScience, 61(2), 107-116. https://doi.org/10.1525/bio.2011.61.2.5
  3. McAfee, D., McLeod, I. M., Alleway, H. K., Bishop, M. J., Branigan, S., Connell, S. D., Copeland, C., Crawford, C. M., Diggles, B. K., Fitzsimons, J. A., Gilby, B. L., Hamer, P., Hancock, B., Pearce, R., Russell, K., & Gillies, C. L. (2022). Turning a lost reef ecosystem into a national restoration program. Conservation Biology, 36, e13958. https://doi.org/10.1111/cobi.13958
  4. Cole, V. J., Parker, L. M., Scanes, E., Wright, J., Barnett, L., & Ross, P. M. (2021). Climate change alters shellfish reef communities: A temperate mesocosm experiment. Mar Pollut Bull, 173, 113113. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2021.113113
  5. OzFish Unlimited 2024, Moreton Bay Shellfish Reef Restoration, OzFish, viewed 1 April 2026. https://ozfish.org.au/projects/moreton-bay-shellfish-reef-restoration/