A keystone mutualism underpins resilience of a coastal ecosystem to drought.
A keystone mutualism underpins resilience of a coastal ecosystem to drought.
复制标题
DOI：
10.1038/ncomms12473
复制
发表时间：
2016-08-18
影响因子：
16.6
通讯作者：
Silliman BR
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Angelini C;Griffin JN;van de Koppel J;Lamers LPM;Smolders AJP;Derksen-Hooijberg M;van der Heide T;Silliman BR
干旱的严重程度和频率都在增加，但人们对加强生态系统抵御这种压力的机制仍然知之甚少。在这里，我们测试是否积极的相互作用的形式之间的互惠互利的贻贝和占主导地位的大米草在盐沼增强生态系统的抵抗力和恢复干旱。横跨美国东南部海岸线250公里的调查显示，在严重干旱期间，空间分散的贻贝土丘使灯心草的存活率提高了5至25倍。调查和贻贝添加实验表明，这种积极的影响，贻贝对大米草是由于土丘提高蓄水和减少土壤盐分胁迫。观察和模型，然后表明，幸存的灯心草补丁与贻贝的功能作为核的营养再生长，尽管只覆盖0.1-12%的死亡，显着缩短沼泽恢复期。这些结果表明，互惠共生，在支持抗压力补丁，可以发挥不成比例的大，在增强生态系统对极端气候的恢复力的关键作用。 日益严重的干旱已造成全球生态系统的大规模死亡。在这里，Angelini等人使用美国盐沼的观察，实验和模型来表明，一个关键的互利共生通过维持抗压栖息地斑块来增加生态系统的弹性，这些斑块有助于干旱后的恢复。
Droughts are increasing in severity and frequency, yet the mechanisms that strengthen ecosystem resilience to this stress remain poorly understood. Here, we test whether positive interactions in the form of a mutualism between mussels and dominant cordgrass in salt marshes enhance ecosystem resistance to and recovery from drought. Surveys spanning 250 km of southeastern US coastline reveal spatially dispersed mussel mounds increased cordgrass survival during severe drought by 5- to 25-times. Surveys and mussel addition experiments indicate this positive effect of mussels on cordgrass was due to mounds enhancing water storage and reducing soil salinity stress. Observations and models then demonstrate that surviving cordgrass patches associated with mussels function as nuclei for vegetative re-growth and, despite covering only 0.1–12% of die-offs, markedly shorten marsh recovery periods. These results indicate that mutualisms, in supporting stress-resistant patches, can play a disproportionately large, keystone role in enhancing ecosystem resilience to climatic extremes. Intensifying drought has caused massive die-offs in ecosystems worldwide. Here, Angelini et al. use observations, experiments, and models in US salt marshes to show that a key mutualism increases ecosystem resilience by maintaining stress-resistant habitat patches that aid post-drought recovery.