A large invasive consumer reduces coastal ecosystem resilience by disabling positive species interactions
| Autor: | Sinead M. Crotty, Johan van de Koppel, Brian R. Silliman, Jarrett E. K. Byrnes, Marc J. S. Hensel, Enie Hensel, Sean J. Sharp |
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| Přispěvatelé: | Conservation Ecology Group |
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
Conservation of Natural Resources
Marsh Swine Science Plant Development General Physics and Astronomy Biology Poaceae General Biochemistry Genetics and Molecular Biology Animals Ecosystem Symbiosis Resilience (network) Mutualism (biology) geography Biomass (ecology) Multidisciplinary geography.geographical_feature_category Habitat fragmentation Behavior Animal Ecology technology industry and agriculture General Chemistry Bivalvia Wetlands Salt marsh Trampling |
| Zdroj: | Nature Communications, 12(1):6290. Nature Publishing Group Nature Communications, Vol 12, Iss 1, Pp 1-10 (2021) |
| ISSN: | 2041-1723 |
| Popis: | Invasive consumers can cause extensive ecological damage to native communities but effects on ecosystem resilience are less understood. Here, we use drone surveys, manipulative experiments, and mathematical models to show how feral hogs reduce resilience in southeastern US salt marshes by dismantling an essential marsh cordgrass-ribbed mussel mutualism. Mussels usually double plant growth and enhance marsh resilience to extreme drought but, when hogs invade, switch from being essential for plant survival to a liability; hogs selectively forage in mussel-rich areas leading to a 50% reduction in plant biomass and slower post-drought recovery rate. Hogs increase habitat fragmentation across landscapes by maintaining large, disturbed areas through trampling of cordgrass during targeted mussel consumption. Experiments and climate-disturbance recovery models show trampling alone slows marsh recovery by 3x while focused mussel predation creates marshes that may never recover from large-scale disturbances without hog eradication. Our work highlights that an invasive consumer can reshape ecosystems not just via competition and predation, but by disrupting key, positive species interactions that underlie resilience to climatic disturbances. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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