Belowground ecosystem engineers enhance biodiversity and function in a polluted ecosystem

Many important ecosystem functions are underpinned by belowground biodiversity and processes. Marine sediments, one of the most abundant habitats on earth, are essential to the mineralisation of organic matter. However, they are increasingly polluted by urban activities leading to the loss of biodiversity and the functions they provide. While traditional sediment remediation strategies are focussed on microbial and engineering solutions, we propose that the reintroduction of belowground ecosystem engineers (bioturbators) is important to rehabilitate polluted sediments and drive recovery of their functions in urban coastal ecosystems. We tested this notion by introducing bioturbators to nutrient polluted sediments to assess their survival, as well as their capacity to drive biodiversity and oxygenation and their potential to remediate nutrient pollution. Polychaete worms Diopatra aciculata and clams Katelysia sp. were added to mesocosms (ex-situ), and the worms also added to experimental...

诸多核心生态系统功能均依赖地下生物多样性及其介导的生态过程。海洋沉积物作为地球分布最为广泛的生境类型之一，在有机质矿化过程中发挥着不可或缺的作用。但这类生境正日益遭受城市活动带来的污染，进而导致生物多样性锐减及其所支撑的生态功能退化。尽管传统沉积物修复策略多围绕微生物修复与工程修复手段展开，但我们提出，重新引入地下生态系统工程师（生物扰动者，bioturbators），对于修复受污染沉积物、恢复城市沿海生态系统中沉积物的生态功能具有关键意义。本研究通过向富营养化污染沉积物中接种生物扰动者，对上述假说进行了验证：旨在评估这类生物的存活情况，以及它们驱动生物多样性恢复、提升沉积物氧合水平的能力，还有其修复营养盐污染的潜在效能。研究人员将多毛类蠕虫（Diopatra aciculata）与蛤类（Katelysia sp.）接种至中宇宙（mesocosms，异位实验系统）中，同时还将该蠕虫应用于原位实验...