Past research in New England salt marshes focused on the causes (both historical and contemporary) and consequences of salt marsh die-off, a phenomenon in which foundational cordgrass is lost as a result of a human-triggered trophic cascade. Using a combination of historical and community ecology methods, we found that marinas and waterways built decades ago increased access to recreational anglers, who subsequently removed large quantities of predatory fish and crustaceans from marshes. In the absence of predators, populations of the native herbivorous crab Sesarma reticulatum have increased rapidly, ultimately leading to runaway herbivory and the loss of marsh habitat in overfished areas. Salt marsh die-off is currently spreading throughout New England, and runaway herbivory is a major threat to marshes worldwide. Although the lab does not currently work in salt marshes, the lessons learned in these systems shape the way we approach related questions in community and evolutionary ecology elsewhere in the world.
Relevant publications:
Relevant publications:
- Coverdale, TC, AH Altieri and MD Bertness. Belowground herbivory increases vulnerability of New England salt marshes to die-off. 2012. Ecology 93: 2085-2094.
- Altieri, AH, MD Bertness, TC Coverdale, NC Herrmann and C Holdredge. A trophic cascade triggers collapse of a salt-marsh ecosystem with intensive recreational fishing. 2012. Ecology 93: 1402-1410.
- Coverdale, TC, NC Herrmann, AH Altieri and MD Bertness. Latent impacts: the role of historical human impacts in coastal habitat loss. 2013. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 11: 69-74.
- Bertness, MD and TC Coverdale. An invasive species facilitates the recovery of salt marsh ecosystems on Cape Cod. 2013. Ecology 94: 1937-1943.
- Altieri, AH, MD Bertness, TC Coverdale, EE Axelman, NC Herrmann and PL Szathmary. Feedbacks underlie the resilience of salt marshes and rapid reversal of consumer-driven die-off. 2013. Ecology 94: 1647-1657.
- Coverdale, TC, EE Axelman, CP Brisson, EW Young, AH Altieri and MD Bertness. New England salt marsh recovery: opportunistic colonization of an invasive species and its non-consumptive effects. 2013. PLoS One 8: e73823.
- Coverdale, TC, MD Bertness and AH Altieri. Regional ontogeny of New England salt marsh die-off. 2013. Conservation Biology 27: 1041-1048.
- Brisson, CP, TC Coverdale and MD Bertness. Salt marsh die-off and recovery reveal disparity between the recovery of ecosystem structure and service provision. 2014. Biological Conservation 197: 1-5.
- He, Q, MD Bertness, J Bruno, B Li, G Chen, TC Coverdale, AH Altieri, J Bai, T Sun, S Pennings, J Liu, P Ehrlich and B Cui. Economic development and coastal ecosystem change in China. 2014. Scientific Reports 4: 5995.
- Bertness, MD, CP Brisson, TC Coverdale, MC Bevil, SM Crotty and ER Suglia. Experimental predator removal rapidly generates salt marsh die-off. 2014. Ecology Letters 17: 830-835.
- Coverdale, TC, EW Young, CP Brisson and MD Bertness. Indirect human impacts reverse centuries of carbon sequestration and marsh accretion. 2014. PLoS One 3: e93296.