Study of Salt Marsh Consumer Diversity and Ecosystem Function on Sapelo Island, Georgia, from May-December 2011

This dataset contains the results of a field study investigating the effect of salt marsh consumer diversity on ecosystem functioning. Our field studies reveal that a diverse consumer assemblage significantly enhances simultaneous functioning of disparate ecosystem processes (i.e., productivity, decomposition, and infiltration). Extreme functional and phylogenetic differences among consumers underlie this relationship. Each marsh consumer affected at least one different ecosystem function and each individual function was affected by more than two consumers.

本数据集包含一项野外研究的成果，该研究旨在探究盐沼（salt marsh）消费者多样性对生态系统功能的影响。本研究结果显示，物种多样的消费者群落可显著提升多种不同生态系统过程的协同运转效率，即生产力（productivity）、分解作用（decomposition）与渗透作用（infiltration）。消费者之间显著的功能与系统发育差异是该关联的核心成因。每一类盐沼消费者均可对至少一种独特的生态系统功能产生影响，而每一项单一生态系统功能则会受到超过两种消费者的共同作用。