A combination of historical bivalve surveys spanning 30-50 years and contemporary sampling were used to document the changes in bivalve community structure over time at four southern California and ...one northern Baja California estuaries. While there are limitations to the interpretation of historic data, we observed generally similar trends of reduced total bivalve species richness, losses of relatively large and/or deeper-dwelling natives, and gains of relatively small, surface dwelling introduced species across the southern California estuaries, despite fairly distinct bivalve communities. A nearly 50-year absence of bivalves from two wetlands surveyed in a Baja California estuary continued. A combination of site history and current characteristics (e.g., location, depth) likely contributes to maintenance of distinct communities, and both episodic and gradual environmental changes likely contribute to within-estuary temporal shifts (or absences). We highlight future research needed to determine mechanisms underlying patterns so that we can better predict responses of bivalve communities to future scenarios, including climate change and restoration.
Ecosystem engineering in space and time Hastings, Alan; Byers, James E; Crooks, Jeffrey A ...
Ecology letters,
February 2007, Letnik:
10, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
The ecosystem engineering concept focuses on how organisms physically change the abiotic environment and how this feeds back to the biota. While the concept was formally introduced a little more than ...10 years ago, the underpinning of the concept can be traced back to more than a century to the early work of Darwin. The formal application of the idea is yielding new insights into the role of species in ecosystems and many other areas of basic and applied ecology. Here we focus on how temporal, spatial and organizational scales usefully inform the roles played by ecosystem engineers and their incorporation into broader ecological contexts. Two particular, distinguishing features of ecosystem engineers are that they affect the physical space in which other species live and their direct effects can last longer than the lifetime of the organism - engineering can in essence outlive the engineer. Together, these factors identify critical considerations that need to be included in models, experimental and observational work. The ecosystem engineering concept holds particular promise in the area of ecological applications, where influence over abiotic variables and their consequent effects on biotic communities may facilitate ecological restoration and counterbalance anthropogenic influences.
Ecosystem engineers affect other organisms by creating, modifying, maintaining or destroying habitats. Despite widespread recognition of these often important effects, the ecosystem engineering ...concept has yet to be widely used in ecological applications. Here, we present a conceptual framework that shows how consideration of ecosystem engineers can be used to assess the likelihood of restoration of a system to a desired state, the type of changes necessary for successful restoration and how restoration efforts can be most effectively partitioned between direct human intervention and natural ecosystem engineers.
While well‐recognized as an important kind of ecological interaction, physical ecosystem engineering by organisms is diverse with varied consequences, presenting challenges for developing and using ...general understanding. There is also still some uncertainty as to what it is, and some skepticism that the diversity of engineering and its effects is amenable to conceptual integration and general understanding. What then, are the key cause/effect relationships and what underlies them? Here we develop, enrich and extend our extant understanding of physical ecosystem engineering into an integrated framework that exposes the essential cause/effect relationships, their underpinnings, and the interconnections that need to be understood to explain or predict engineering effects. The framework has four cause/effect relationships linking four components: 1. An engineer causes structural change; 2. Structural change causes abiotic change; 3. Structural and abiotic change cause biotic change; 4. Structural, abiotic and biotic change can feedback to the engineer. The first two relationships describe an ecosystem engineering process and abiotic dynamics, while the second two describe biotic consequence for other species and the engineer. The four relationships can be parameterized and linked using time‐indexed equations that describe engineered system dynamics. After describing the relationships we discuss the utility of the framework; how it might be enriched; and briefly how it can be used to identify intersections of ecosystem engineering with fields outside ecology.
Ecological succession has long been a focal point for research, and knowledge of underlying mechanisms is required if scientists and managers are to successfully promote recovery of ecosystem ...function following disturbance. We addressed the influence of bottom-up processes on successional assemblage shifts in salt marshes, ecosystems with strong physical gradients, and how these shifts were reflected in the trophic characteristics of benthic fauna. We tracked the temporal development of infaunal community structure and food-web interactions in a young, created salt marsh and an adjacent natural marsh in Mission Bay, California, USA (1996–2003). Macro faunal community succession in created Spartina foliosa habitats occurred rapidly, with infaunal densities reaching 70% of those in the natural marsh after 1 yr. Community composition shifted from initial dominance of insect larvae (surface-feeding microalgivores) to increased dominance of oligo chaetes (subsurface-feeding detritivores) within the first 7 yr. Isotopic labeling of microalgae, N₂-fixing cyanobacteria, S. foliosa and bacteria revealed direct links (or absence thereof) between these basal food sources and specific consumer groups. In combination with the compositional changes in the macroinvertebrate fauna, the trophic patterns indicated an increase in food-web complexity over time, reflecting resource-driven marsh succession. Natural abundance stable isotope ratios of salt marsh consumers (infaunal and epifaunal macroinvertebrates, and fish) initially reflected distinctions in trophic structure between the created and natural marsh, but these diminished during successional development. Our findings suggest that changing resource availability is one of the important drivers of succession in benthic communities of restored wetlands in Southern California.
Understanding wetland food webs is critical for effective habitat management, restoration and conservation. Microalgae are recognized as key food sources for marsh invertebrates but the importance of ...different groups under various conditions is rarely examined. We tested the hypothesis that faunal utilization of microalgae, and cyanobacteria in particular, is significant in Southern California created and natural salt marshes but varies with habitat type (creek bank versus marsh interior) and season (spring versus autumn). We used stable isotope analysis and mixing models (IsoSource) to compare food webs in adjacent young (created) and mature (natural) salt marshes. Isotopic values of some primary producers, macrofauna, epifauna, and fish demonstrated significant differences between the adjacent salt marshes. δ13C and δ34S values of the benthic microalgal community varied with taxonomic composition (diatoms versus cyanobacteria) and to a lesser extent with season. Depleted δ15N values of benthic diatoms and macroalgae indicated that N2 fixed within algal mats was recycled within the benthic algal community. Marsh fauna, including most major macrofauna taxal, Cerithidea, and Fundulus, also exhibited seasonal differences in isotopic composition, and Cerithidea and selected macrofauna (oligochaetes, polychaetes) from the marsh interior were more enriched in 13C and depleted in 15N than those from the creek bank. In the young marsh, the cyanobacteria contributed a minimum of 17–100% of the primary production in food webs supporting macrofauna, and cyanobacteria contributed at least 40% of the primary production included in Cerithidea and Fundulus food webs. A wider range of primary producers contributed to food webs in the mature marsh. Cyanobacteria were a greater source of trophic support for macrofauna from the marsh interior than the creek bank, whereas Spartina was a more important food source for creek bank macrofauna in both marshes. Insect larvae largely consumed cyanobacteria, whereas polychaetes exhibited greater utilization of Spartina. Phytoplankton was the primary food resource for mussels in both marshes. Although the spatial and temporal complexity of food webs has traditionally been collapsed into the study of relatively simplified food webs, isotope signatures reveal fine‐scale patterns in food web structure that may be used to make more accurate assessments of ecosystem state. Accurate interpretation of marsh trophic structure using natural abundance stable isotopes requires fine‐scale resolution in space and time, a large number of samples, and a high level of taxonomic resolution.
Ecosystem recovery following wetland restoration offers exceptional opportunities to study system structure, function, and successional processes in salt marshes. This study used observations of ...natural variation and large-scale manipulative experiments to test the influence of vascular vegetation and soil organic matter on the rate and trajectory of macrofaunal recovery in a southern California created salt marsh, the Crown Point Mitigation Site. During the first three years following marsh establishment, macrofaunal density and species richness recovered rapidly within the Spartina foliosa (cordgrass) zone; densities in the created marsh were 50% of those in the natural marsh after 16 mo and 97% after 28 mo. However, the early successional assemblage had a lower proportion of tubificid and enchytraeid oligochaetes, and a higher proportion of chironomids and other insect larvae than did the mature natural marsh. Most of the colonizers arrived by rafting on sea grass and algae rather than by larval dispersal. Initial planting of S. foliosa had no influence on macrofaunal recovery, perhaps because of variable transplant survival. However, subsequently, both positive and negative correlations were observed between densities of some macrofaunal taxa and shoot densities of S. foliosa or Salicornia spp. (pickleweed). Salinity and measures of soil organics (belowground biomass, combustible organic matter, and chlorophyll a) also were correlated with macrofaunal densities and taxon richness. Of four added soil amendments (kelp, alfalfa, peat, and Milorganite), Milorganite (a sewage product) and kelp both promoted macrofaunal colonization during year 1, but effects were short lived. The most significant sources of heterogeneity in the recovering marsh were associated with site history and climate variation. Faunal recovery was most rapid in highly localized, organic-rich marsh sediments that were remnants of the historical wetland. Elevated sea level during the 1998 El Niño corresponded with similarity of macrofaunal communities in the created and natural marshes. The large spatial scale and multi-year duration of this study revealed that natural sources of spatial and temporal heterogeneity may exert stronger influence on faunal succession in California wetlands than manipulation of vegetation or soil properties.
Habitat mitigation frequently leads to planting of new habitat, assuming that it can replace lost natural habitat. Yet this practice has rarely been examined in detail. In the USA habitat mitigation ...is frequently allowed under the US Endangered Species Act, providing monitoring reports which represent a potentially valuable data source for imperiled species. We used publicly available reports for the US threatened Valley elderberry longhorn beetle (Desmocerus californicus dimorphus) to assess record keeping practices used by US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), and the utility of such analyses for improving conservation. A large portion of mitigation reports known to exist were missing from FWS files, indicating problems with data management, and a loss of important information. Transplanted brought mature beetle host plants and beetles to sites, promoting beetle colonization. Conversely, few sites with seedlings were colonized. Results indicate a need for improved data management by FWS and longer term monitoring.
Societal constraints often limit full process restoration in large river systems, making local rehabilitation activities valuable for regeneration of riparian vegetation. A target of much mitigation ...and restoration is the federally threatened Valley elderberry longhorn beetle and its sole host plant, blue elderberry, in upper riparian floodplain environments. However, blue elderberry ecology is not well understood and restoration attempts typically have low success rates. We determined broad-scale habitat characteristics of elderberry in altered systems and examined associated plant species composition in remnant habitat. We quantified vegetation community composition in 139 remnant riparian forest patches along the Sacramento River and elderberry stem diameters along this and four adjacent rivers. The greatest proportion of plots containing elderberry was located on higher and older floodplain surfaces and in riparian woodlands dominated by black walnut. Blue elderberry saplings and shrubs with stems <5.0 cm in diameter were rare, suggesting a lack of recruitment. A complex suite of vegetation was associated with blue elderberry, including several invasive species which are potentially outcompeting seedlings for light, water, or other resources. Such lack of recruitment places increased importance on horticultural restoration for the survival of an imperiled species. These findings further indicate a need to ascertain whether intervention is necessary to maintain functional and diverse riparian woodlands, and a need to monitor vegetative species composition over time, especially in relation to flow regulation.
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