Shorebirds-driven trophic cascade helps restore coastal wetland multifunctionality.

ABSTRACT: Ecosystem restoration has traditionally focused on re-establishing vegetation and other foundation species at basal trophic levels, with mixed outcomes. Here, we show that threatened shorebirds could be important to restoring coastal wetland multifunctionality. We carried out surveys and manipulative field experiments in a region along the Yellow Sea affected by the invasive cordgrass Spartina alterniflora. We found that planting native plants alone failed to restore wetland multifunctionality in a field restoration experiment. Shorebird exclusion weakened wetland multifunctionality, whereas mimicking higher predation before shorebird population declines by excluding their key prey - crab grazers - enhanced wetland multifunctionality. The mechanism underlying these effects is a simple trop

SUBMITTER: Li C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10700615 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature