Top-down vs. bottom-up control on vegetation composition in a tidal marsh depends on scale

• Published in: PloS one Vol. 12; no. 2; p. e0169960
• Main Authors: Elschot, Kelly, Vermeulen, Anke, Vandenbruwaene, Wouter, Bakker, Jan P., Bouma, Tjeerd J., Stahl, Julia, Castelijns, Henk, Temmerman, Stijn
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Public Library of Science 03.02.2017; Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subjects: Accretion; Animal behavior; Animals; Anser anser; Aquatic birds; Biology and Life Sciences; Bolboschoenus; Composition; Decades; Deposition; Earth Sciences; Ecological monitoring; Ecological succession; Ecology; Ecology and Environmental Sciences; Ecosystem; Ecosystems; Environmental conditions; Foraging (Animal feeding behavior); Geese; Geologic Sediments; Health aspects; Herbivores; Hypotheses; IMARES Onderzoeksformatie; Life sciences; Onderzoeksformatie; Organs; Patches (structures); People and Places; Plants; Population; Salt marshes; Sea level rise; Sediments; Sediments (Geology); Soil erosion; Storage organs; Studies; Tidal marshes; Trends; Vegetation; Vegetation type; Wetlands; Belgium; Netherlands

The relative impact of top-down control by herbivores and bottom-up control by environmental conditions on vegetation is a subject of debate in ecology. In this study, we hypothesize that top-down control by goose foraging and bottom-up control by sediment accretion on vegetation composition within...