Top-predator recovery abates geomorphic decline of a coastal ecosystem.

Autor: Hughes BB; Department of Biology, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, CA, USA. hughes@sonoma.edu.; Division of Marine Science and Conservation, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Beaufort, NC, USA. hughes@sonoma.edu., Beheshti KM; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA.; Marine Science Institute, University of California Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA., Tinker MT; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA.; Nhydra Ecological Research, Head of St Margarets Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada., Angelini C; Department of Environmental Engineering Sciences, Engineering School for Sustainable Infrastructure and Environment, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA., Endris C; Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, Geological Oceanography Lab, Moss Landing, CA, USA., Murai L; Division of Regional Assistance, California Department of Water Resources, West Sacramento, CA, USA., Anderson SC; Pacific Biological Station, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada.; Department of Mathematics, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada., Espinosa S; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, USA., Staedler M; Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey, CA, USA., Tomoleoni JA; Western Ecological Research Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Santa Cruz, CA, USA., Sanchez M; Department of Biology, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, CA, USA., Silliman BR; Division of Marine Science and Conservation, Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University, Beaufort, NC, USA.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Nature [Nature] 2024 Feb; Vol. 626 (7997), pp. 111-118. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Jan 31.
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-023-06959-9
Abstrakt: The recovery of top predators is thought to have cascading effects on vegetated ecosystems and their geomorphology 1,2 , but the evidence for this remains correlational and intensely debated 3,4 . Here we combine observational and experimental data to reveal that recolonization of sea otters in a US estuary generates a trophic cascade that facilitates coastal wetland plant biomass and suppresses the erosion of marsh edges-a process that otherwise leads to the severe loss of habitats and ecosystem services 5,6 . Monitoring of the Elkhorn Slough estuary over several decades suggested top-down control in the system, because the erosion of salt marsh edges has generally slowed with increasing sea otter abundance, despite the consistently increasing physical stress in the system (that is, nutrient loading, sea-level rise and tidal scour 7-9 ). Predator-exclusion experiments in five marsh creeks revealed that sea otters suppress the abundance of burrowing crabs, a top-down effect that cascades to both increase marsh edge strength and reduce marsh erosion. Multi-creek surveys comparing marsh creeks pre- and post-sea otter colonization confirmed the presence of an interaction between the keystone sea otter, burrowing crabs and marsh creeks, demonstrating the spatial generality of predator control of ecosystem edge processes: densities of burrowing crabs and edge erosion have declined markedly in creeks that have high levels of sea otter recolonization. These results show that trophic downgrading could be a strong but underappreciated contributor to the loss of coastal wetlands, and suggest that restoring top predators can help to re-establish geomorphic stability.
(© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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