TY - JOUR
T1 - Turning riprap into reefs
T2 - Integrating oyster shells into shoreline armouring
AU - Bradford, Thea E.
AU - Lo, Chi C.
AU - Astudillo, Juan Carlos
AU - Leung, Rainbow W.S.
AU - Lai, Charlene
AU - Minuti, Jay J.
AU - Wong, Carmen K.M.
AU - Hawkins, Stephen J.
AU - Morris, Rebecca L.
AU - Leung, Kenneth Mei Yee
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2025
PY - 2025/7
Y1 - 2025/7
N2 - Boulder seawalls constructed with granite riprap for shoreline armouring lack habitat complexity, leading to lower marine biodiversity than natural rocky shores. Baskets of live oysters and cured oyster shells, and strings of cured shells laid on concrete blocks were installed on ripraps in Hong Kong, China with an aim to enhance biodiversity and ecosystem functioning towards that of a natural rocky shore. Inhabiting taxa were monitored for at least 18 months and biofiltration capacity of the emerging community was determined ex-situ. Despite high mortality of the live oysters, the baskets and shell reefs developed consistently greater biodiversity than control riprap, culminating in a mean 3.8 (±0.28, 95 % C.I.) times higher across sites. The baskets and shell reefs harboured suspension feeders, herbivores and carnivores generally absent from control riprap, demonstrating the potential for enhancing ecosystem functioning. Overall, baskets and shell reefs increased biodiversity through increased microhabitat availability for epibiota on ripraps.
AB - Boulder seawalls constructed with granite riprap for shoreline armouring lack habitat complexity, leading to lower marine biodiversity than natural rocky shores. Baskets of live oysters and cured oyster shells, and strings of cured shells laid on concrete blocks were installed on ripraps in Hong Kong, China with an aim to enhance biodiversity and ecosystem functioning towards that of a natural rocky shore. Inhabiting taxa were monitored for at least 18 months and biofiltration capacity of the emerging community was determined ex-situ. Despite high mortality of the live oysters, the baskets and shell reefs developed consistently greater biodiversity than control riprap, culminating in a mean 3.8 (±0.28, 95 % C.I.) times higher across sites. The baskets and shell reefs harboured suspension feeders, herbivores and carnivores generally absent from control riprap, demonstrating the potential for enhancing ecosystem functioning. Overall, baskets and shell reefs increased biodiversity through increased microhabitat availability for epibiota on ripraps.
KW - Artificial seawalls
KW - Coastal blue/green infrastructure
KW - Eco-engineering
KW - Greening of grey infrastructure
KW - Land reclamation
KW - Living shorelines
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=105002326889&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2025.117933
DO - 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2025.117933
M3 - Article
C2 - 40220549
AN - SCOPUS:105002326889
SN - 0025-326X
VL - 216
JO - Marine Pollution Bulletin
JF - Marine Pollution Bulletin
M1 - 117933
ER -
