Exploring historical distributions of native oyster through Scottish place-names - MASTS Webinar

Описание: Exploring historical distributions of native oyster Ostrea edulis through an analysis of Scottish place-names- eisirean, maoraich agus oitirean with Dr Anna McGregor, University of Glasgow

Wednesday 5 February 2025

Once widespread and constituting an important food source for local communities, native oysters Ostrea edulis are now almost entirely absent from Scottish waters. Because of their many benefits to ecosystem services, the re-establishment of self-sustaining native oyster populations is important in promoting healthy, productive and resilient coastal habitats and associated benefits to human communities. This project combined approaches across three disciplines to explore where appropriate locations for oyster restoration work might be best situated. We conducted a toponymic analysis based on Scottish place-names across relevant languages to identify broad-scale locations of oyster habitat along the west coast of Scotland. We then analysed historical records and geological maps to identify areas of potentially suitable oyster habitat, also gathering historical accounts and sayings and songs highlighting the importance of shellfish to coastal Scottish communities. This work generated a list of eight place-names related to oysters, shellfish or likely habitat in the area from the Solway Firth to Skye, which were then found in 62 individual locations. These locations can then be further investigated for the amount of appropriate habitat and presence of oyster eDNA in the water.

Overall this work has demonstrated the potential for applying a novel, interdisciplinary and evidence-informed approach that connects historical place-based knowledge to future potential restoration efforts and demonstrates the inherent links between indigenous Gaelic culture and nature.

https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/bohvm/s...