Oyster reefs are highly valuable ecosystems, providing ecological, economic, and social benefits. However, over the centuries, these ecosystems have fallen victim to overexploitation and are suffering from the impacts of diseases and pollution. Currently, oyster reefs are among the most threatened aquatic habitats in the world. Restoring these reefs is a complex challenge requiring innovative and multidisciplinary approaches to strengthen their resilience and promote recovery in coastal areas constantly impacted by human activity.
In this project, we hypothesise that conditioning oysters to stressful environmental conditions and modulating the microbiome of oyster seeds (juveniles) in nurseries will enhance their resilience, making them better equipped to face adverse environmental conditions and resist opportunistic pathogens. In line with this hypothesis, in the present project, we will investigate the effect of pre-conditioning oysters to short-term, non-lethal heat and salinity shocks combined with microbiome modulation before transplanting them from the nursery to an estuarine environment. Microbiome modulation will be achieved through the use of an innovative porous polymeric mesh with biocompatible/biodegradable composite materials for the controlled release of microbial modulators (patent pending EP23188811.6). In the final phase of the project, conditioned and unconditioned oysters (concerning environmental stress and microbiome modulation) will be introduced to different locations in the Ria de Aveiro within cages, some equipped with the polymeric mesh containing microbiome modulators and others without. The effects of conditioning and microbiome modulation will be assessed by analysing the structural composition of the microbiome, immune status, oxidative stress, growth, and survival of the oysters. This project proposes the development of an innovative strategy that combines conditioning and microbiome modulation of oyster seeds to improve their health and survival during oyster reef restoration.
