Change in fish functional diversity and assembly rules in the course of tidal marsh restoration.

ABSTRACT: Functional trait theory provides a mechanistic framework to understand change in community composition and community assembly through time and space. Despite this, trait-based approaches have seldom been used in ecological restoration. Succession theory predicts that habitat complexity and resource availability will increase with restoration time, leading to increased functional dissimilarity among coexisting species. However, in the case of tidal marsh restoration, it is not clear whether reestablishing the harsh abiotic conditions typical of estuaries will initiate successional trajectories. We investigated monotonic changes in the functional structure of fish communities and shifts in assembly mechanisms, with tidal restoration time. A five-level gradient of 'intertidal habitat naturaln

SUBMITTER: Lechene A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6300267 | biostudies-literature | 2018

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature