(verb)To grow vigorously (Merriam Webster)

Ive encountered this word when writing my annotated bibliography. Here is what I wrote

“The way how I discovered this subject was from my professor Rosen, who told me about how there used to be a thriving oyster population beneath New York “

In this quote I have described that my professor Rosen introduced me to the topic of how oysters used to grow vigorously in old New York.