Abstract
AbstractFoundation species contribute to the recovery of animal communities from disturbance by engineering, by improving habitat quality, and by regulating food availability. In a salt marsh impacted by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, we tested the hypothesis that nutrient subsidies would enhance the positive effects of the foundation species Spartina alterniflora on the initial recolonization of benthic invertebrate communities (e.g., copepods, annelids, nematodes) by augmenting food (i.e., microalgae) availability. After two months, plantings of S. alterniflora significantly elevated the densities of the polychaete Capitella capitata, meiofauna‐sized annelids, and total macroinfauna over unplanted plots. After 7 months, the significant effect of plantings persisted for meiofauna‐sized annelids, but not for C. capitata and total macroinfauna. Plantings had no effect on copepods (including Nannopus palustris, the dominant species), nematodes, or microalgal biomass for either month. Nutrient additions did not influence any taxon, despite initial increases in benthic microalgal biomass after 2 months. We hypothesize that the structural effects of plants were important to early colonization, possibly by facilitating larval settlement or ameliorating temperature and desiccation stress. Our results emphasize the importance of re‐establishing foundation species in oil‐impacted sites to enhance recolonization of saltmarsh annelids, but suggest that recolonization is not promoted by the addition of nutrients.
Highlights
Foundation species such as mangroves, oysters, trees, corals, and grasses define an ecosystem or community by regulating physical structure, abiotic conditions, and trophic interactions (Dayton 1972, Ellison et al 2005, Angelini et al 2011)
Ecologists have highlighted the trophic role of foundation species, which can directly supply food or indirectly control food availability
We explore this hypothesis in the early development of a benthic animal community in salt marshes severely damaged by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill
Summary
Foundation species such as mangroves, oysters, trees, corals, and grasses define an ecosystem or community by regulating physical structure, abiotic conditions, and trophic interactions (Dayton 1972, Ellison et al 2005, Angelini et al 2011). Ecologists have long recognized the structural (non-trophic) effects of foundation species on shaping animal. Resource subsidies may enhance the recovery of animal communities by establishing or augmenting food availability. Allochthonous input of leaf litter from forests into streams is an important energy subsidy that drives total ecosystem production, and food-web structure, biodiversity patterns, and energy flow (Johnson and Wallace 2005). Resource subsidies coupled with the establishment of foundation species should accelerate recolonization by animals after a disturbance. We explore this hypothesis in the early development of a benthic animal community in salt marshes severely damaged by the Deepwater Horizon oil spill
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