| 1. |
- Temmink, R. J. M., et al.
(författare)
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Mimicry of emergent traits amplifies coastal restoration success
- 2020
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Ingår i: Nature Communications. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 2041-1723. ; 11:1
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Restoration is becoming a vital tool to counteract coastal ecosystem degradation. Modifying transplant designs of habitat-forming organisms from dispersed to clumped can amplify coastal restoration yields as it generates self-facilitation from emergent traits, i.e. traits not expressed by individuals or small clones, but that emerge in clumped individuals or large clones. Here, we advance restoration science by mimicking key emergent traits that locally suppress physical stress using biodegradable establishment structures. Experiments across (sub)tropical and temperate seagrass and salt marsh systems demonstrate greatly enhanced yields when individuals are transplanted within structures mimicking emergent traits that suppress waves or sediment mobility. Specifically, belowground mimics of dense root mats most facilitate seagrasses via sediment stabilization, while mimics of aboveground plant structures most facilitate marsh grasses by reducing stem movement. Mimicking key emergent traits may allow upscaling of restoration in many ecosystems that depend on self-facilitation for persistence, by constraining biological material requirements and implementation costs.
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| 3. |
- van der Heide, T., et al.
(författare)
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Coastal restoration success via emergent trait-mimicry is context dependent
- 2021
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Ingår i: Biological Conservation. - : Elsevier BV. - 0006-3207. ; 264
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Coastal ecosystems provide vital ecosystem functions and services, but have been rapidly degrading due to human impacts. Restoration is increasingly considered key to reversing these losses, but is often unsuccessful. Recent work on seagrasses and salt marsh cordgrasses highlights that restoration yields can be greatly enhanced by temporarily mimicking key emergent traits. These traits are not expressed by individual seedlings or small clones, but emerge in clumped individuals or large clones to locally suppress environmental stress, causing establishment thresholds where such density-dependent self-facilitation is important for persistence. It remains unclear, however, to what extent the efficacy of restoration via emergent trait-based mimicry depends on the intensity of stressors. We test this in a restoration experiment with the temperate seagrass Zostera marina at four sites (Finland, Sweden, UK, USA) with contrasting hydrodynamic regimes, where we simulated dense roots mats or vegetation canopies with biodegradable structural mimics. Results show that by mimicking sediment-stabilizing root mats, seagrass transplant survival, growth and expansion was strongly enhanced in hydrodynamically exposed environments. However, these positive effects decreased and turned negative under benign conditions, while mimics insufficiently mitigated physical stress in extremely exposed environments, illustrating upper and lower limits of the application. Furthermore, we found that aboveground structures, designed to mimic stiff rather than flexible vegetation canopies, underperformed compared to belowground mimics. Our findings emphasize the importance of understanding the conditions at the restoration site, species-specific growth requirements, and self-facilitating traits that organisms may express when applying emergent trait-mimicry as a tool to improve restoration success. © 2021 The Authors
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