Effects of two antagonistic ecosystem engineers on infaunal diversity

The role of ecosystem engineers has been highlighted in recent decades because of their importance for ecosystem functioning, although the interaction between different antagonistic engineer species and their effects on ecosystems have been so far poorly investigated. Coastal areas are good natural laboratories to explore such interactions, since they are often inhabited by macrophyte beds (autogenic engineers) and bioturbator species (allogenic engineers) with antagonistic effects on ecosystem properties and processes (e.g. species diversity, nutrient fluxes, etc.). The main goal of this study was to determine how coexisting antagonistic ecosystem engineers could influence benthic diversity and available resources in soft-bottom areas. To achieve this goal, a two-month experiment was carried out in situ by introducing artificial seagrass patches in a soft-bottom area inhabited by the fiddler crab Uca tangeri. Both the experimental exclusion of burrows as well as the presence of artificial seagrass-like structures (mimics) resulted in higher macrobenthic density and species richness in the benthic community. Resource availability for organisms (sediment chlorophyll a and epiphytes) was also favoured by the presence of mimics. Therefore, the higher structural complexity (above- and below-ground) associated with seagrass mimics promoted positive effects for infauna such as creation of a new habitat ready to colonize, reduction of the crab burrowing activity and the enhancement of resource availability, which resulted in increased diversity in the benthic community.