The role of bivalve mariculture in the CO2 cycle has been commonly evaluated as the balance between respiration, shell calcium carbonate sequestration and CO2 release during biogenic calcification. However, this approach neglects the ecosystem implications of cultivating bivalves at high densities, e.g. the impact on phytoplankton dynamics and benthic−pelagic coupling, which can significantly c...

A combination of historical bivalve surveys spanning 30-50 years and contemporary sampling were used to document the changes in bivalve community structure over time at four southern California and one northern Baja California estuaries. While there are limitations to the interpretation of historic data, we observed generally similar trends of reduced total bivalve species richness, losses of r...

PANDORA stands for Preserving and Accessing Networked Documentary Resources of Australia. This is the project name given to the work that has been undertaken by the National Library of Australia to develop an electronic archive of Australian publications on the Internet. Work on the project, which commenced in earnest at the beginning of 1997, has concentrated on two strands of activity. These ...

Characterization of the feeding preferences of bivalve larvae would help improving the bivalve aquaculture and hatchery by providing appropriate microalgal diets. However, inaccurate and laborious identification and counting of microalgal species have challenged the selective feeding of bivalves. In the present study, we developed a highly specific and sensitive assay using quantitative polymer...

In coastal environments, fishing and aquaculture may be important sources of disturbance to ecosystem functioning, the quantification of which must be assessed to make them more sustainable. In the Chausey Archipelago, France, recreational fishing and commercial shellfish farming are the only two evident anthropogenic activities, dominated by bivalve hand-raking and 'bouchot' mussel culture, re...

Aquaculture is the fastest growing food sector and feeds over 3 billion people. Bivalve shellfish aquaculture makes up 25% of global aquaculture production and is worth annually US$19 billion, but continued growth is currently limited by suboptimal diets and limited tools for disease control. New advances in microencapsulation technology could provide an effective way to overcome these biologic...

The major commercial marine bivalve in French aquaculture is the Pacific oyster, Crassostrea gigas. Traditionally, bivalve culture relies on juvenile collection from the natural environment but due to the high year-to-year variation in spatfall recruitment the spat production in hatcheries is increasing recently. In this context, a better understanding of the biology of C. gigas larvae is requi...

We propose new indicators for bivalve (oyster and mussel) beds on exposed intertidal flats, derived from dual-copolarization (HH + VV) TerraSAR-X, Radarsat-2, and ALOS-2 images of the German North Sea coast. Our analyses are based upon the Kennaugh element framework, and we show that different targets on exposed intertidal flats exhibit different radar backscattering characteristics, which mani...

Bivalve larvae and hydrographic parameters were sampled over a range of spatio-temporal scales in a deep atoll lagoon. Bivalve larvae abundances were very high throughout the year: 18,550 m(-3) in average. Larvae were (i) concentrated at mid-depth with nocturnal ascent and diurnal descent, (ii) heterogeneously dispersed at the lagoon scale, (iii) subject to day-to-day variation in abundance and...

This paper reviews the present state of knowledge on environmental issues related to bivalve aquaculture, with emphasis on suspended mussel culture. Material reviewed includes Canadian and international studies on the role of wild and cultured bivalve populations in controlling ecosystem-level dynamics. The focus is on identifying potential changes in ecosystem processes (material and energy fl...