Singapore-Delft Water Alliance, National University of Singapore, Engineering Drive 2, Singapore.
Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc. 2012 May;87(2):346-66. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-185X.2011.00198.x. Epub 2011 Sep 19.
Intertidal wetlands such as saltmarshes and mangroves provide numerous important ecological functions, though they are in rapid and global decline. To better conserve and restore these wetland ecosystems, we need an understanding of the fundamental natural bottlenecks and thresholds to their establishment and long-term ecological maintenance. Despite inhabiting similar intertidal positions, the biological traits of these systems differ markedly in structure, phenology, life history, phylogeny and dispersal, suggesting large differences in biophysical interactions. By providing the first systematic comparison between saltmarshes and mangroves, we unravel how the interplay between species-specific life-history traits, biophysical interactions and biogeomorphological feedback processes determine where, when and what wetland can establish, the thresholds to long-term ecosystem stability, and constraints to genetic connectivity between intertidal wetland populations at the landscape level. To understand these process interactions, research into the constraints to wetland development, and biological adaptations to overcome these critical bottlenecks and thresholds requires a truly interdisciplinary approach.
潮间带湿地，如盐沼和红树林，提供了许多重要的生态功能，但它们正在迅速全球范围内减少。为了更好地保护和恢复这些湿地生态系统，我们需要了解其建立和长期生态维护的基本自然瓶颈和阈值。尽管这些系统栖息在类似的潮间带位置，但它们在结构、物候、生活史、系统发育和扩散方面的生物学特征差异显著，这表明生物物理相互作用存在很大差异。通过对盐沼和红树林进行首次系统比较，我们揭示了物种特定生活史特征、生物物理相互作用和生物地貌反馈过程之间的相互作用如何决定湿地在何处、何时以及建立何种湿地，可以建立长期生态系统稳定性的阈值，以及景观水平上潮间带湿地种群之间遗传连通性的限制。为了理解这些过程的相互作用，对湿地发展的限制以及克服这些关键瓶颈和阈值的生物学适应的研究需要真正的跨学科方法。
