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FOR MORE INFO, HERE ARE OUR

ST YGEN
OYSTERS IN NEW YORK.
SOURCES
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WHY?

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OY
In seafood restaurants around
How do these little
the city, oysters are expensive.
This is because the oyster creatures help the New
beds of New York Harbor have York Harbor, and why are
a much smaller harvest than they so important?
they used to...

The Lenape tribe used to

harvest oysters without
damaging the population until
the Europeans took advantage
of the oyster reefs and
harvested them en masse for
consumption. (What are
Oysters, Anyways?, 2023)

In doing so, they ruined the

ecosystem of the NY
harbor(Massachusettes Oyster
Project, 2024). The following
hundred years saw a huge
decline in safe water quality(
and an increase in improper
sewage disposal, furthering
the decline in oyster reefs. photo taken of the Brooklyn Bridge Park oyster hatchery by Ayah
Wood and edited in Adobe Photoshop
Anatomy of an oyster drawn by Ayah Wood using Adobe
Illustrator
LET’S ANALYZE! WATER QUALITY: HOW DOES IT AFFECT OUR
ANALYSIS? (Deep Water)
gills
+ cil
h iu
m out

m
Brooklyn Bridge

Percent (%) Living

t Testing for... East River results
ach ar
sto m Park results

tor
he
intestin

uc
e abd

What an oyster crate looks like in the oyster pH 8 8

nursery drawn by Ayah Wood using Adobe

What exactly is an Oyster and how

do they help the ecosystems? temperature (C) 12 20

Oysters are bivalves, meaning that they have

two shells and are part of the Mollusk family. salinity (ppt) 31 22
The graph above is a comparison of the mortality rate
(What are Oysters, Anyways?, 2023)
between oysters in Brooklyn Bridge Park and the East River
Examples of Mollusks are: muscles, scallops (90th St.) All of the oysters in the East River were alive,
whereas only 83% of the 85 oysters in Brooklyn Bridge Park dissolved oxygen
and clams although they have symmetrical 2 4
were alive, which may indicate that the Brooklyn Bridge (mg/L)
shells. (What are Oysters, Anyways?, 2023)
Park’s ecosystem is more dangerous for the oysters.

Oysters are a keystone species; they hold New The second graph analyzes the difference in size between
York Harbor’s entire ecosystem together and make the two locations (measuring live oysters only). While the East nitrate (ppm) and
0.5, 0 0.5, 0
River had an average oyster size of 59.93mm, the Brooklyn nitrite (ppm)
a habitat for organisms such as types of algae such
Bridge Park oysters averaged 72.31mm which may indicate
as diatoms and sea lettuce which in turn brings in that there are better nutrients for the oysters in the
bigger fish and predators. They also prevent Algal Brooklyn bridge park waters.
Bloom which can ruin ecosystems! (Massachusettes presence of
no yes
coliform
Oyster Project, 2024)
HOWEVER: THERE MAY BE A SOURCE OF LIMITATION ON
ALL DATA; for water quality, the East river and Brooklyn Bride Park
An ecosystem is a symbiotic community of data were taken on different days meaning external factors such as
turbidity (cm) 46.5 50
rain and wind could bring in new bacteria. This is fairly likely to
living organisms such as plants, animals, and
happen as weather changes constantly
bacteria that inhabit a certain area. We noticed .... 1) some elements of both results were the same,
such as the shared pH of 8, nitrate of 0.5ppm and nitrite of 0ppm.
2) there were distinct differences in quality. The water in the East
River was notably warmer by 8 degrees Celsius. The East River
Oysters also have the incredible ability to “filter Average Oyster Size (mm) in East River vs. Brooklyn
sample also showed presence of coliform, a known bacteria
feed” and clean the water by letting moving Bridge Park causing diseases like e.coli (Cleveland Cllinic, 2023)
3) However the water at the BBP was murkier and had a higher
water flow through the filter-like gill between
salinity level, which means more food for the oysters.
their shells where pollution particles get
trapped and are eventually filtered out through
their feces along with pseudofaeces and act as
fertilizer for the ecosystem. (Oyster Heaven,
2024)
Organizations like the Billion
Oyster Project help to keep these
East River Brooklyn bridge Park
ecosystems alive and the water safe
(Vims.edu, 2017) Image on the ecosystem benifits/stressors of
for all organisms! (Zraick K, 2021) water quality to oysters