Study puts some mussels into Chesapeake Bay restoration
Tuesday, September 9, 2014 - 03:03
in Earth & Climate
Research in Chesapeake Bay shows that the mussels that typically colonize a restored oyster reef can more than double the reef's overall filtration capacity. Filtering plankton helps improve water quality because these tiny drifting organisms thrive on the excess nitrogen and other nutrients that humans release into the Bay and its tributaries through farming, wastewater outflow, and the burning of fossil fuels.