Alice E. Lown

University of Essex · School of life sciences

This handbook has been written to facilitate effective and consistent monitoring of native oyster restoration projects across Europe. It builds on the information provided in the European Native Oyster Habitat Restoration Handbook (Preston et al. 2020) and acts as a European extension to the American Oyster Habitat Restoration Monitoring and Assess...

There are growing calls to restore populations of European native oysters (Ostrea edulis), on the premise that restored populations will support a range of ecosystem services with an emphasis placed on restored oyster habitats promoting biological diversity, however benefits associated with naturally occurring O. edulis remain unclear. We undertook...

1. There is a growing effort throughout Europe to restore populations of native oysters (Ostrea edulis), with the ecological objective of enhancing ecosystem biodiversity and resilience. 2. The introduced parasite, Bonamia ostreae, caused catastrophic mortalities during the 1980s, furthering the decline of this species, and is now present throughou...

• Following an 85% decline in global oyster populations, there has been a recent resurgence in interest in the restoration of the European native oyster Ostrea edulis. Motivations for restoration from environmental stakeholders most often include recovering lost habitats and associated biodiversity and supporting ecosystem function. In coastal comm...

Phenotype–environment associations in coloration often involve camouflage, enabling organisms to blend into their environment and thereby reducing predatory attacks. The nature of any associations may vary among receivers with different visual systems and at different spatial scales, but these effects have rarely been investigated together. We stud...

Camouflage is perhaps the most widespread anti-predator strategy in nature, found in numerous animal groups. A long-standing prediction is that individuals should have camouflage tuned to the visual backgrounds where they live. However, while several studies have demonstrated phenotype-environment associations, few have directly shown that this con...

Camouflage is widespread throughout the natural world and conceals animals from predators in a vast range of habitats. Because successful camouflage usually involves matching aspects of the background environment, species and populations should evolve appearances tuned to their local habitat, termed phenotype-environment associations. However, alth...

Camouflage is found in a wide range of species living in numerous habitat types, offering protection from visually guided predators. This includes many species from the intertidal zone, which must cope with background types diverse in appearance and with multiple predator groups foraging at high and low tide. Many animals are capable of either rela...

Camouflage is perhaps the most widespread anti-predator defense in nature, with many different types thought to exist. Of these, resembling the general color and pattern of the background (background matching) is likely to be the most common. Background matching can be achieved by adaptation of individual appearance to different habitats or substra...

Camouflage is perhaps the most widespread defence against predators in nature and an active area of interdisciplinary research. Recent work has aimed to understand what camouflage types exist (e.g. background matching, disruptive, and distractive patterns) and their effectiveness. However, work has almost exclusively focused on the efficacy of thes...