Ecological Value of Submerged Breakwaters for Habitat Enhancement on a Residential Scale
Ecological Value of Submerged Breakwaters for Habitat Enhancement on a Residential Scale
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水下防波堤对住宅规模栖息地改善的生态价值
DOI：
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发表时间：
2015
影响因子：
3.5
通讯作者：
K. L. Heck
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
S. Scyphers;S. Powers;K. L. Heck
自从人类到达沿海地区以来，河口海岸线已经退化。在近代历史中，栖息地退化的一个主要原因是用垂直墙保护海岸线，以保护财产免受波浪能的侵蚀；然而，缺乏维持或增强生态功能的实用替代方案限制了滨水居民和沿海地区管理者的选择。我们通过实验研究了沿着美国阿拉巴马州莫比尔湾西北部侵蚀的海岸线建造的两种水下防波堤配置的栖息地价值。由袋装牡蛎壳或 Reef Ball™ 混凝土圆顶组成的防波堤是由社区修复工作建造的。部署后监测发现： 袋装牡蛎防波堤支持的活肋贻贝密度比 Reef Ball 防波堤高得多；与对照相比，两种防波堤配置都支持增加幼鱼和较小鱼类的物种丰富度；较大的鱼类似乎并未受到防波堤存在的影响。我们的研究表明，生态退化的海岸线可以以合理的成本通过小型防波堤得到改善，并且这些复杂的结构可以作为滤食性双壳类、移动无脊椎动物和幼鱼的栖息地。了解这些结构减轻侵蚀波能和保护高地的程度将需要比我们为期两年的研究更长的时间。
Estuarine shorelines have been degraded since humans arrived in the coastal zone. In recent history, a major cause of habitat degradation has been the armoring of shorelines with vertical walls to protect property from erosive wave energy; however, a lack of practical alternatives that maintain or enhance ecological function has limited the options of waterfront residents and coastal zone managers. We experimentally investigated the habitat value of two configurations of submerged breakwaters constructed along an eroding shoreline in northwest Mobile Bay, AL (USA). Breakwaters comprised of bagged oyster shell or Reef Ball™ concrete domes were built by a community-based restoration effort. Post-deployment monitoring found that: bagged oyster breakwaters supported much higher densities of live ribbed mussels than Reef Ball breakwaters; both breakwater configurations supported increased species richness of juvenile and smaller fishes compared to controls; and that larger fishes did not appear to be affected by breakwater presence. Our study demonstrates that ecologically degraded shorelines can be augmented with small-scale breakwaters at reasonable cost and that these complex structures can serve as habitat for filter-feeding bivalves, mobile invertebrates, and young fishes. Understanding the degree to which these structures mitigate erosive wave energy and protect uplands will require a longer time frame than our 2-year-long study.