期刊
ECOLOGY
卷 94, 期 7, 页码 1647-1657出版社
WILEY
DOI: 10.1890/12-1781.1
关键词
alternate community state; cordgrass die-off; facilitation; feedback; group benefits; herbivory; human impact; phase shift; resilience; salt marsh recovery; Sesarma reticulatum; Spartina alterniflora
类别
资金
- NSF
- Directorate For Geosciences
- Division Of Ocean Sciences [0927090] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
Understanding ecosystem resilience to human impacts is critical for conservation and restoration. The large-scale die-off of New England salt marshes was triggered by overfishing and resulted from decades of runaway crab grazing. In 2009, however, cordgrass began to recover, decreasing die-off approximate to 40% by 2010. We used surveys and experiments to test whether plant-substrate feedbacks underlie marsh resilience. Initially, grazer-generated die-off swept through the cordgrass, creating exposed, stressful peat banks that inhibited plant growth. This desertification cycle broke when banks eroded and peat transitioned into mud with fewer herbivores, less grazing, and lower physical stress. Cordgrass reestablished in these areas through a feedback where it engineered a recovery zone by further ameliorating physical stresses and facilitating additional revegetation. Our results reveal that feedbacks can play a critical role in rapid, reversible ecosystem shifts associated with human impacts, and that the interplay of facilitative and consumer interactions should be incorporated into resilience theory.
作者
我是这篇论文的作者
点击您的名字以认领此论文并将其添加到您的个人资料中。
推荐
暂无数据