Physical and biological development of a newly breached managed realignment site, Humber estuary, UK

Mazik, Krysia; Smith, Jane E.; Leighton, Angela; Elliott, Michael

doi:10.1016/j.marpolbul.2007.09.017

Cited by 26 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…many macrobenthic species) from those with vegetative reproduction (e.g. sea grasses; Mazik et al 2007).…”

Section: Recovery Of Marine Ecosystems After Removing Different Humanmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Once the community structure has been created (due to organisms colonising available or created niches) the community functioning (including inter-and intra-specific interactions such as predator-prey relationships and competition) will develop (Gray and Elliott 2009). In many instances (Tables 1 and 2) the studies focus on an initial reappearance of particular biological elements but we caution that the presence of a biological element following colonisation is not necessarily an indication that a fully functioning ecosystem has been created (Mander et al 2007;Mazik et al 2007). For example, the recolonisation by one group of organisms (e.g.…”

Section: Recovery Of Marine Ecosystems After Removing Different Humanmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Medium- and Long-term Recovery of Estuarine and Coastal Ecosystems: Patterns, Rates and Restoration Effectiveness

Borja

Dauer

Elliott

et al. 2010

Estuaries and Coasts

360

175

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Many estuarine and coastal marine ecosystems have increasingly experienced degradation caused by multiple stressors. Anthropogenic pressures alter natural ecosystems and the ecosystems are not considered to have recovered unless secondary succession has returned the ecosystem to the pre-existing condition or state. However, depending upon the scales of time, space and intensity of anthropogenic disturbance, return along the historic trajectory of the ecosystem may: (1) follow natural restoration though secondary succession; (2) be re-directed through ecological restoration, or (3) be unattainable. In order to address the gaps in knowledge about restoration and recovery of estuarine and coastal ecosystems, this special feature includes the present overview and other contributions to provide a synthesis of our knowledge about recovery patterns, rates and restoration effectiveness. From the 51 examples collated in this contribution, we refine the recovery from the list of stressors into six recovery mechanisms: (1) recovery from sediment modification, which includes all aspects of dredging and disposal; (2) recovery by complete removal of stressors limiting natural ecosystem processes, which includes tidal marsh and inundation restoration; (3) recovery by speed of organic degradation, which includes oil discharge, fish farm wastes, sewage disposal, and paper mill waste; (4) recovery from persistent pollutants, which includes chemical discharges, such as TBT; (5) recovery from excessive biological removal, related to fisheries and (6) recovery from hydrological and morphological modification. Drawing upon experience both from these many examples and from an example of one comprehensive study, we show that although in some cases recovery can take <5 years, especially for the short-lived and high-turnover biological components, full recovery of coastal marine and estuarine ecosystems from over a century of degradation can take a minimum of 15-25 years for attainment of the original biotic composition and diversity may lag far beyond that period.

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“…many macrobenthic species) from those with vegetative reproduction (e.g. sea grasses; Mazik et al 2007).…”

Section: Recovery Of Marine Ecosystems After Removing Different Humanmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Recovery Of Marine Ecosystems After Removing Different Humanmentioning

confidence: 99%

Medium- and Long-term Recovery of Estuarine and Coastal Ecosystems: Patterns, Rates and Restoration Effectiveness

Borja

Dauer

Elliott

et al. 2010

Estuaries and Coasts

360

175

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…From the breaching of the site in 2003, the sediment surface level in the realignment site accreted between 8.1 cm at the highest elevation (3.15 m OD) and 118 cm at the lowest elevation (2.78 m OD) by 2013 (Brown, 2014). Within three years, invertebrates and foraging waterbird communities had rapidly colonised the site and showed some similarities with those found on a contiguous established and reference intertidal area (Mander et al, 2007;Mazik et al, 2007). However, the position of the PHS realignment site high in the tidal frame (between 2.78 m and 3.65 m above OD in 2013) and its configuration (Fig.…”

Section: A C C E P T E D Accepted Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 74%

Ecoengineering with Ecohydrology: Successes and failures in estuarine restoration

Elliott

Mander

Mazik

et al. 2016

Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science

152

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Ecological Engineering (or Ecoengineering) is increasingly used in estuaries to re-create and restore ecosystems degraded by human activities, including reduced water flow or land poldered for agricultural use. Here we focus on ecosystem recolonization by the biota and their functioning and we separate Type A Ecoengineering where the physico-chemical structure is modified on the basis that ecological structure and functioning will then follow, and Type B Ecoengineering where the biota are engineered directly such as through restocking or replanting. Modifying the physical system to create and restore natural processes and habitats relies on successfully applying Ecohydrology, where suitable physical conditions, especially hydrography and sedimentology, are created to recover estuarine ecology by natural or human-mediated colonisation of primary producers and consumers, or habitat creation. This successional process then allows wading birds and fish to reoccupy the rehabilitated areas, thus restoring the natural food web and recreating nursery areas for aquatic biota.We describe Ecohydrology principles applied during Ecoengineering restoration projects in Europe, Australia, Asia, South Africa and North America. These show some successful and sustainable approaches but also others that were less than successful and not sustainable despite the best of intentions (and which may even have harmed the ecology). Some schemes may be 'good for the ecologists', as conservationists consider it successful that at least some habitat was created, albeit in the short-term, but arguably did little for the overall ecology of the area in space or time. We indicate M A N U S C R I P T A C C E P T E D ACCEPTED MANUSCRIPT2 the trade-offs between the short-and long-term value of restored and created ecosystems, the success at developing natural structure and functioning in disturbed estuaries, the role of this in estuarine and wetland management, and the costs and benefits of Ecoengineering to the socio-ecological system. These global case studies provide important lessons for both the science and management of estuaries, including that successful estuarine restoration is a complex and often difficult process, and that Ecoengineering with Ecohydrology aims to control and/or simulate natural ecosystem processes.

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“…Ice rafting contributes to our knowledge of vectors for occasional long-distance movement of organisms, thus ''fattening the tail'' of dispersal kernels of the affected species. This has implications for population spread; it might contribute to colonization of restored intertidal flats and recolonization following local extinctions (e.g., Mazik et al 2007). Finally, ice rafting should not be overlooked as a potential vector for spread of invasive species.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dispersal of marine benthic invertebrates through ice rafting

Macfarlane

Drolet

Barbeau

et al. 2013

Ecology

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Knowledge of dispersal vectors used by organisms is essential to the understanding of population and community dynamics. We report on ice rafting, a vector by which intertidal benthic invertebrates can be transported well outside their normal dispersal range during winter in temperate climates. We found multiple invertebrate taxa in sediment-laden ice blocks sampled in the intertidal zone. A large proportion of individuals were alive and active when freed from the ice. Using radio tracking, we found that ice blocks can travel over 20 km within a few days. Given the abundance of highly mobile ice blocks carrying viable invertebrates, we conclude that ice-rafting is likely an important dispersal vector, contributing to spatial community dynamics in intertidal systems. This mechanism helps explain observed genetic structure of populations, but it also raises concerns about potential negative impacts of climate change on connectivity between populations.

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Physical and biological development of a newly breached managed realignment site, Humber estuary, UK

Cited by 26 publications

References 37 publications

Medium- and Long-term Recovery of Estuarine and Coastal Ecosystems: Patterns, Rates and Restoration Effectiveness

Medium- and Long-term Recovery of Estuarine and Coastal Ecosystems: Patterns, Rates and Restoration Effectiveness

Ecoengineering with Ecohydrology: Successes and failures in estuarine restoration

Dispersal of marine benthic invertebrates through ice rafting

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