Oyster reef restoration fails to recoup global historic ecosystem losses despite substantial biodiversity gain.

ABSTRACT: Human activities have led to degradation of ecosystems globally. The lost ecosystem functions and services accumulate from the time of disturbance to the full recovery of the ecosystem and can be quantified as a "recovery debt," providing a valuable tool to develop better restoration practices that accelerate recovery and limit losses. Here, we quantified the recovery of faunal biodiversity and abundance toward a predisturbed state following structural restoration of oyster habitats globally. We found that while restoration initiates a rapid increase in biodiversity and abundance of reef-associated species within 2 years, recovery rate then decreases substantially, leaving a global shortfall in recovery of 35% below a predisturbed state. While efficient restoration methods boost recovery a

SUBMITTER: Hemraj DA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9683697 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature