Historical dataset details the distribution, extent and form of lost Ostrea edulis reef ecosystems

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  • Ruth H. Thurstan
    University of Exeter
  • Hannah McCormick
    Zoological Society of London
  • Joanne Preston
    University of Portsmouth
  • Elizabeth C. Ashton
    Queen's University, Belfast
  • Floris P. Bennema
    MarHis, Haren, The Netherlands
  • Ana Bratoš Cetinić
    University of Dubrovnik Ćira Carića
  • Janet H. Brown
    Association of Scottish Shellfish Growers
  • Tom C. Cameron
    University of Essex
  • Fiz da Costa
    Instituto Español de Oceanografıa (IEO, CSIC)
  • David W. Donnan
    NatureScot
  • Christine Ewers
    Zoological Museum of the Christian-Albrechts University
  • Tomaso Fortibuoni
    Italian National Institute for Environmental Protection and Research
  • Eve Galimany
    Institut Català de Recerca per la Governança del Mar (ICATMAR)
  • Otello Giovanardi
    Italian National Institute for Environmental Protection and Research
  • Romain Grancher
    CNRS, Toulouse, France.
  • Daniele Grech
    International Marine Centre − IMC, Loc. Sa Mardini, Italy
  • Maria Hayden-Hughes
  • Luke Helmer
    Blue Marine Foundation
  • K. Thomas Jensen
    Aarhus University
  • José A. Juanes
    Universidad de Cantabria
  • Janie Latchford
    University of Exeter
  • Alec B. M. Moore
  • Dimitrios K. Moutopoulos
    University of Patras, Patras
  • Pernille Nielsen
    Technical University of Denmark
  • Henning von Nordheim
    University of Rostock
  • Bárbara Ondiviela
    Universidad de Cantabria
  • Corina Peter
    Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research
  • Bernadette Pogoda
    Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research
  • Bo Poulsen
    Aalborg University
  • Stéphane Pouvreau
    LEMAR, Ifremer, Argenton en Landunve, France
  • Cordula Scherer
    Trinity College Dublin
  • Aad C. Smaal
    Wageningen University
  • David Smyth
    Ulster Wildlife, Belfast.
  • Åsa Strand
    IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute
  • John A. Theodorou
    University of Patras, Patras
  • Philine S. E. zu Ermgassen
    University of Edinburgh
Ocean ecosystems have been subjected to anthropogenic influences for centuries, but the scale of past ecosystem changes is often unknown. For centuries, the European flat oyster (Ostrea edulis), an ecosystem engineer providing biogenic reef habitats, was a culturally and economically significant source of food and trade. These reef habitats are now functionally extinct, and almost no memory of where or at what scales this ecosystem once existed, or its past form, remains. The described datasets present qualitative and quantitative extracts from written records published between 1524 and 2022. These show: (1) locations of past flat oyster fisheries and/or oyster reef habitat described across its biogeographical range, with associated levels of confidence; (2) reported extent of past oyster reef habitats, and; (3) species associated with these habitats. These datasets will be of use to inform accelerating flat oyster restoration activities, to establish reference models for anchoring adaptive management of restoration action, and in contributing to global efforts to recover records on the hidden history of anthropogenic-driven ocean ecosystem degradation.
Original languageEnglish
JournalScientific data
Volume11
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 5 Nov 2024

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