Ecology & Environmental Change Podcasts Spatial Ecology

Episode 91 – Seawilding: Scottish Native Oyster Restoration

Posted on by Graeme Cullen
Reading time 2 minutes

Most of us will be familiar with the concept of ‘rewilding’, but what about ‘seawilding’? In this episode of Naturally Speaking, we are joined by SBOHVM’s very own Dr Anna McGregor to discuss her very exciting, important and interdisciplinary Scottish native oyster (Ostrea edulis) restoration project. She tells us about how Gaelic place names are being used in conjunction with cutting edge environmental science to help rescue Scotland’s marine biodiversity.

Student volunteers completing biodiversity monitoring work for Wild Oyster Project in Largs marina.

Anna is a key member of the aquatic sciences teaching team here in the department. She teaches on a huge range of marine and freshwater subjects. She also supervises numerous undergraduate and Masters student dissertations, as well as carrying out her own research. Anna’s research focuses on the use and understanding of sound in marine environments; for example, understanding the sounds of marine mammals and impacts from anthropogenic sounds on a variety of species.

Technician Brendan Robertson collecting water samples for eDNA testing for presence of shellfish species in waters at Loch Melfort.
Interpretation board at Kilchoan Estate, explaining the work they have done to encourage native oyster restoration at Loch Melfort.
Setting up the aerial survey equipment to photograph the intertidal habitat where high numbers of oysters are found.
An adult native oyster (Ostrea edulis) housed at the Wild Oyster Project in Largs marina.

All images courtesy of Dr Anna McGregor

Post: Graeme Cullen

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Intro and outro music sampled from: “The Curtain Rises” and “Early Riser” Kevin MacLeod [CC BY 3.0]

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