Nature Communications (Jun 2017)

Vegetation recovery in tidal marshes reveals critical slowing down under increased inundation

  • Jim van Belzen,
  • Johan van de Koppel,
  • Matthew L. Kirwan,
  • Daphne van der Wal,
  • Peter M. J. Herman,
  • Vasilis Dakos,
  • Sonia Kéfi,
  • Marten Scheffer,
  • Glenn R. Guntenspergen,
  • Tjeerd J. Bouma

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms15811
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 8, no. 1
pp. 1 – 7

Abstract

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Theory and controlled experiments have shown that the recovery rate of an ecological variable from perturbation slows down before a critical tipping point. Here, van Belzen and colleagues demonstrate that slowed vegetation recovery to disturbance is also apparent in the natural system of a tidal marsh.