Over het archief
Het OWA, het open archief van het Waterbouwkundig Laboratorium heeft tot doel alle vrij toegankelijke onderzoeksresultaten van dit instituut in digitale vorm aan te bieden. Op die manier wil het de zichtbaarheid, verspreiding en gebruik van deze onderzoeksresultaten, alsook de wetenschappelijke communicatie maximaal bevorderen.
Dit archief wordt uitgebouwd en beheerd volgens de principes van de Open Access Movement, en het daaruit ontstane Open Archives Initiative.
Basisinformatie over ‘Open Access to scholarly information'.
Evidence for ‘critical slowing down’ in seagrass: a stress gradient experiment at the southern limit of its range
El-Hacen, E.-H.M.; Bouma, T.J.; Fivash, G.S.; Sall, A.A.; Piersma, T.; Olff, H.; Govers, L. (2018). Evidence for ‘critical slowing down’ in seagrass: a stress gradient experiment at the southern limit of its range. NPG Scientific Reports 8(1): 17263. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-34977-5
In: Scientific Reports (Nature Publishing Group). Nature Publishing Group: London. ISSN 2045-2322; e-ISSN 2045-2322, meer
|   |
| Auteurs | | Top |
- El-Hacen, E.-H.M.
- Bouma, T.J., meer
- Fivash, G.S.
- Sall, A.A.
|
- Piersma, T., meer
- Olff, H.
- Govers, L.
|
|
| Abstract |
The theory of critical slowing down, i.e. the increasing recovery times of complex systems close to tipping points, has been proposed as an early warning signal for collapse. Empirical evidence for the reality of such warning signals is still rare in ecology. We studied this on Zostera noltii intertidal seagrass meadows at their southern range limit, the Banc d’Arguin, Mauritania. We analyse the environmental covariates of recovery rates using structural equation modelling (SEM), based on an experiment in which we assessed whether recovery after disturbances (i.e. seagrass & infauna removal) depends on stress intensity (increasing with elevation) and disturbance patch size (1 m2 vs. 9 m2). The SEM analyses revealed that higher biofilm density and sediment accretion best explained seagrass recovery rates. Experimental disturbances were followed by slow rates of recovery, regrowth occurring mainly in the coolest months of the year. Macrofauna recolonisation lagged behind seagrass recovery. Overall, the recovery rate was six times slower in the high intertidal zone than in the low zone. The large disturbances in the low zone recovered faster than the small ones in the high zone. This provides empirical evidence for critical slowing down with increasing desiccation stress in an intertidal seagrass system. |
IMIS is ontwikkeld en wordt gehost door het VLIZ.
