A GIS-based Decision Support Tool

for Oyster Reef Habitat Restoration

Seth Theuerkauf, Brandon Puckett, David Eggleston

PhD Candidate, DoD NDSEG Fellow

ESRI Ocean GIS Forum 2016

Oyster ReefsProvide valuable ecosystem services

and economic benefits

Credit: Nate GeraldiCredit: Dave Eggleston

0 Oysters 20 Oysters 40

Oysters

essential fish habitat shoreline protection

water filtration

Global Oyster Reef Declines

Credit: Beck et al. 2011, BioScience

Reef Restoration

• Life history: dispersive larval stage

• Goal: provide settlement habitat & catalyze reef development

• Challenge: identifying optimal locations in estuary to restore

www.njdmf.org

Emergence of GIS-based

Decision Support Tools

• Goal: identify optimal restoration areas within vast bodies of water

• How: spatially integrate relevant biophysical and socioeconomic factors

? unsuitable

suitable

Oyster Restoration in North

Carolina• < 2% natural reefs

remain

Credit: Jay Fleming

Oyster Restoration in North

Carolina• < 2% natural reefs

remain

• DMF sanctuary program Goal: restore an interconnected network of protected reefs

• Knowledge gap: where best to focus restoration efforts

A GIS-based Decision Support Tool

for Oyster Sanctuary Restoration in NC

Tool Development

4. Conduct sensitivity analysis, model validation

3. Develop GIS-based suitability model

2. Assemble spatial data

1. Prioritize relevant spatial factors

1. Prioritize relevant spatial

factors• Biological (e.g., larval dispersal)

• Environmental (e.g., salinity)

• Socioeconomic (e.g., military zones)

How?

2. Assemble spatial data

Exclusion

• Criteria is either met, or not

Threshold

• Each layer reclassified according to known relationships

2. Assemble spatial data

Exclusion• Bathymetry

• Sediment

• SAV presence

• Nursery areas

• Shellfish leases

• Navigational channels

• Military zones

2. Assemble spatial data

Threshold

• Larval connectivity

• Salinity

• Dissolved oxygen

• Material stockpile

sites

• Boat rampsADCIRC (Advanced Circulation Model)

+ Particle Tracking Model (PTM)Puckett and Eggleston (2012)

3. Develop GIS-based suitability

model• Weight threshold layers based on importance

• Filter based on all exclusion layers

23% 20% 15% 11%

+ + + + … = 100%Larval

ExportSalinity Larval

Import

Dissolved

Oxygen

3. Develop GIS-based suitability

model

4. Conduct sensitivity analysis,

model validation

23% 20% 15% 11%

4. Conduct sensitivity analysis,

model validation

• Goal: identify areas that maximize fish production & recreational fishing opportunities

• Incorporate:- ~20 years of trawl

survey data

- larval fish ingress modeling

Reef-associated Fish Habitat

Next Steps: Integration of

Ecosystem Services

• Goal: identify areas that maximize water quality enhancement benefits

• Incorporate:- ~10 years calibrated

MERIS chlorophyll a

- water flow velocities (ADCIRC)

- dissolved oxygen

- variability of all factors

Next Steps: Integration of

Ecosystem ServicesOyster Filtration

Making Tool Accessible

maps.coastalresilience.org

Acknowledgements• Rodney Guajardo (NCNERRS), Craig Hardy (NCDMF), Rick Luettich

(UNC-CH), Jie Gao (UNC-CH), Ernie Hain (NCDMF), Robert Weaver

(UNC-CH), Corbett Kerr (UNC-CH), Craig Layman (NCSU), Pat Halpin

(Duke), Marine Ecology Lab (NCSU)

• Funding agencies and partners:

Contact InfoSeth Theuerkauf, sjtheuer@ncsu.edu