Waltham, Nathan J., and Sheaves, Marcus (2024) Investigating thermal regime on seawalls to maximise nature positive outcomes for encrusting tropical oysters. Ecological Engineering, 209. 107426.

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Abstract

Ecological niche theory poses that the arrangement of species in the environment is arranged by thresholds and tolerances to settings, though, when these conditions fall outside these (for example, temperature) a species is absent. Using an infra-red thermal sensor, we characterise the surface temperature in summer and autumn on the sun facing (no oysters present) and the shaded side of rock boulders (oysters present) used to build coastal seawall structures in central Queensland, Australia. The sun facing boulder surface was significantly hotter, up to 15 ◦C at any one time, compared with the boulder shaded side during both the summer and autumn surveys. Diel logging (30 min intervals) of surface temperature of sun facing boulder surfaces without oysters ranged between 24 and 50 ◦C, while boulders with oysters ranged between 25 and 35 ◦C. A Principal Component Analysis constructed using boulder dimensions (length, width, height, and surface angle orientation) showed a close positive correlation between length and width, however, height was poorly correlated with the other two dimensions. When this information is used to construct a boulder index no relationship is evident between the boulder size and the observed temperatures on the two sides of boulders. For seawalls to achieve nature positive outcomes in tropical settings, requires simply taking into consideration rock surface temperature settings during the design and construction phase. Implementing this ecological engineering consideration gives oysters a greater chance of colonisation, and thereby providing the ecosystem services that they are well known for.

Item ID:	84117
Item Type:	Article (Research - C1)
ISSN:	1872-6992
Keywords:	Coastal structures, Shellfish, Temperature, Eco-engineering, Blue economy,
Copyright Information:	© 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
Date Deposited:	20 Nov 2024 01:52
FoR Codes:	31 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 3103 Ecology > 310305 Marine and estuarine ecology (incl. marine ichthyology) @ 50% 41 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES > 4104 Environmental management > 410404 Environmental management @ 50%
SEO Codes:	18 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT > 1802 Coastal and estuarine systems and management > 180203 Coastal or estuarine biodiversity @ 50% 18 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT > 1802 Coastal and estuarine systems and management > 180299 Coastal and estuarine systems and management not elsewhere classified @ 50%
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