The resilience of coastal ecosystems: A functional trait‐based perspective

Battisti, Davide De

doi:10.1111/1365-2745.13641

Cited by 23 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 122 publications

(263 reference statements)

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“…Additional attention is needed to understand the physiological (e.g., related to temperature, dissolved oxygen) and ecological thresholds of fish targeted in the recreational flats fishery so that we do not inadvertently overlook threats related to compounding effects of climate change and other anthropogenic disturbances. How flats fishes respond to rapid onset changes, versus slower, chronic disturbances, will provide a lens into how resilient individual species are, and if mitigation measures are even possible (De Battisti 2021 ). The same is true for higher and lower levels of biological organization, from predators to prey (Bernhardt and Leslie 2013 )—recognizing that resilience and adaptation of species to the complexities of climate change may be difficult to untangle; the future of flats fish populations and the fisheries that depend on them is uncertain.…”

Section: Knowledge Gaps and Calls To Actionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cascading effects of climate change on recreational marine flats fishes and fisheries

et al. 2022

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Tropical and subtropical coastal flats are shallow regions of the marine environment at the intersection of land and sea. These regions provide myriad ecological goods and services, including recreational fisheries focused on flats-inhabiting fishes such as bonefish, tarpon, and permit. The cascading effects of climate change have the potential to negatively impact coastal flats around the globe and to reduce their ecological and economic value. In this paper, we consider how the combined effects of climate change, including extremes in temperature and precipitation regimes, sea level rise, and changes in nutrient dynamics, are causing rapid and potentially permanent changes to the structure and function of tropical and subtropical flats ecosystems. We then apply the available science on recreationally targeted fishes to reveal how these changes can cascade through layers of biological organization—from individuals, to populations, to communities—and ultimately impact the coastal systems that depend on them. We identify critical gaps in knowledge related to the extent and severity of these effects, and how such gaps influence the effectiveness of conservation, management, policy, and grassroots stewardship efforts.

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Section: Knowledge Gaps and Calls To Actionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cascading effects of climate change on recreational marine flats fishes and fisheries

et al. 2022

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“…This was largely driven by root construction, biomass allocation, and mycorrhizal infection. Dissimilarity in whole plant traits may indicate that that functionally similar species have different approaches for surviving the dune environment (De Battisti, 2021; Reich, 2014; Tavares et al, 2020; Westoby et al, 2002; Wright et al, 2004). Species with different individual traits may tolerate similar environmental conditions through unique combinations of trait that cumulatively provide similar whole plant fitness (Marks & Lechowicz, 2006; Pivovaroff et al, 2016; Tavares et al, 2020; Westoby et al, 2002).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Evaluating whole plant traits can provide quantitative measures of characteristics that may influence dune processes (e.g., plant height), and provide baseline measurements for modeling efforts (De Battisti, 2021; Temmerman et al, 2005). Our objective was to examine whole plant traits (aboveground and belowground) of four dominant dune species with a specific emphasis on root system traits due to lack of data.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Whole plant traits of coastal dune vegetation and implications for interactions with dune dynamics

Walker

Zinnert

2022

Ecosphere

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Coastal dunes are important protective features against sea level rise and coastal storms. Interactions between dune plant aboveground structures and sediment trapping that allow for dune building and maintenance are well established. More recently, studies documenting belowground biomass for promoting erosion resistance in dominant dune species have been conducted, yet a knowledge gap remains regarding species-specific characterization of whole plants, specifically with respect to roots, rhizomes, and belowground stems.Our objective was to quantify above-and belowground traits of four dominant dune grasses to document the potential for species-specific effects on dune growth, maintenance, and erosion resistance. We examined above-and belowground traits among four prominent dune grasses of the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of North America: Ammophila breviligulata, Panicum amarum, Spartina patens, and Uniola paniculata. Whole plant samples of each species were collected from the foredune at the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center's Field Research Facility in Duck, North Carolina, USA, and quantified for several above-and belowground traits (e.g., stem height, rhizome number and length, root surface area by diameter class, root tensile strength, and mycorrhizal percent infection). Belowground factors known to impact important dune processes, such as rhizome length, mycorrhizal percent infection, and root traits, differed substantially among species. When visualized in multivariate space, all species significantly differed in suites of aboveand belowground traits. When considering belowground only, Ammophila and Spartina were similar, despite differences in biomass allocation. Species separated along axes related to mycorrhizal association, biomass allocation, and root construction. The four co-occurring dune grass species were dissimilar in suites of plant traits. Belowground trait differences were driven by those describing root construction, biomass allocation, and mycorrhizal infection.

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“…(2020) show that trait‐based early warning signals can be used to anticipate both the collapse and the recovery of a lake ecosystem in the Yangtze floodplain to multiple disturbances (warming, eutrophication and biotic interactions). Studies such as these may be pivotal in informing management, and De Battisti (2021) proposes a conceptual framework for predicting functional resilience of communities. The author illustrates how different suites of plant traits can help predict the resistance and recovery of salt marshes and sand dunes to pulse, chronic and rapid onset disturbances.…”

Section: Opportunities and Challenges In The Special Featurementioning

confidence: 99%

Reconciling resilience across ecological systems, species and subdisciplines

et al. 2021

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Resilience has emerged as a key concept in ecology and conservation biology to understand and predict ecosystem responses to global change. In its broadest sense, resilience describes the ability of an ecosystem to resist, and recover from, a disturbance. However, the application of such a concept in different subdisciplines of ecology and in different study systems has resulted in a wide disparity of definitions and ways of quantifying resilience. This Special Feature, which spans the Journal of Ecology, Journal of Animal Ecology and Functional Ecology, provides an overview of how ecologists define, quantify, compare and predict resilience across different study systems. The 29 contributions to this Special Feature show the broad range of approaches used by ecologists to study resilience. Almost half of the contributions (48%) study resilience at the community level, with a 30% of them studying resilience at multiple levels of biological organisation. A large proportion of these articles are observational (42%), experimental (14%) or a combination of both (17%) while a 17% utilise theoretical or computational approaches. Although 38%, 21% and 14% of the studies were based solely on plants, animals or micro‐organisms, respectively, 17% of them incorporated these multiple trophic levels. Synthesis. A unified ecological understanding of resilience across systems and taxa requires a trans‐disciplinary consensus on what resilience actually is and how to best measure it. Here, we provide an overview of how ecologists define, quantify, compare and predict resilience across different ecological systems and subdisciplines, with reference to the diverse approaches used by contributions to this Special Feature. We identify four key recommendations to harmonise future efforts in resilience research: (a) define resilience using existing theoretical frameworks; (b) use common and comparable metrics to measure resilience; (c) clearly contextualise and define the pre‐ and post‐disturbance state of the ecological system and (d) consider explicitly the disturbance type and regime impacting the system.

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The resilience of coastal ecosystems: A functional trait‐based perspective

Abstract: This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

Cited by 23 publications

References 122 publications

Cascading effects of climate change on recreational marine flats fishes and fisheries

Cascading effects of climate change on recreational marine flats fishes and fisheries

Whole plant traits of coastal dune vegetation and implications for interactions with dune dynamics

Reconciling resilience across ecological systems, species and subdisciplines

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