Kate Orff, is not a biologist, she’s an architect. I love the idea of using natural systems to design human systems. The idea that construction should work with the landscape is not new, all you have to do is visit Falling Water to see that, but it’s an idea that hasn’t taken off like it should. Can we design our future?
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I already posted it over on my blog, but Jeff Levinton of the Department of Ecology and Evolution at Stony Brook University is giving a free public lecture at Southampton, NY TONIGHT, 7:30 PM on this very topic – oyster restoration in NY. Anyone in the Long Island area that is interested should check it out.
http://coz.southernfriedscience.com/?p=490
So I went over to Jeff Levinton’s oyster lecture, and using some back of the envelope calculations, he predicted that it would take 15 billion oysters to cover the bottom of Jamaica Bay, NY. He then predicts that that number of oysters would only be able to sequester ~20% of the nitrogen loading into the bay – so that oysters alone aren’t able to combat anthropogenic nutrient loading. Thats not to say it wont happen, especially in a smaller, closed system like a canal, but certainly not as a bay wide process. Just some food for thought. It was a public lecture, so I don’t know how he came up with the numbers. He’s scheduled to talk at the benthic meeting so I’ll see what he has to say then.
That should be a pretty good talk. See you at Benthics!