Determining How Functionally Diverse Intertidal Sediment Species Preserve Mudflat Ecosystem Properties After Abrupt Biodiversity Loss

ABSTRACT Hale, H.; Jacques, R.O., and Tolhurst, T.J., 2019. Determining how functionally diverse intertidal sediment species preserve mudflat ecosystem properties after abrupt biodiversity loss. Journal of Coastal Research, 35(2), 389–396. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. As a result of anthropogenic climate change, extreme climatic events have increased in frequency, severity, and longevity. The consequences for community structure after a catastrophic event have been well studied. However, changes in ecosystem functioning that occur after such an event, including ecosystem recovery, are still uncertain. A catastrophic event was simulated in an intertidal sedimentary habitat. Postevent sediment replicates were assigned to one of four recovery scenarios: (1) no recovery, (2) migration recovery, and recovery by differential opportunistic colonisation by (3) the polychaete worm Hediste diversicolor and (4) the mud snail Peringia ulvae, two locally dominant infauna species. These are compared with a ...