Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40186621›Full record

ArticleOecologia2025

Two sides of the coin: Feedback-driven landscape formation results in trade-off between establishment and resilience of marram grass.

Solveig Höfer, Lissie de Groot, Nathan Scanlan, Eva Lansu, Max Rietkerk, Martin Wassen, Tjisse van der Heide, Valérie C Reijers

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Oecologia, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Solveig HöferConservation Ecology Group, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, 9700 AA, Groningen, The Netherlands. solveig.hofer@nioz.nl.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9941-3216
Lissie de GrootDepartment of Environmental System Science, ETH Zürich, Universitätstrasse 2, 8092, Zurich, Switzerland.
Nathan ScanlanDepartment of Coastal Systems, Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research, 1790 AB, Den Burg, The Netherlands.
Eva LansuConservation Ecology Group, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, 9700 AA, Groningen, The Netherlands.
Max RietkerkCopernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Environmental Sciences Group, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Martin WassenCopernicus Institute of Sustainable Development, Environmental Sciences Group, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
Tjisse van der HeideConservation Ecology Group, Groningen Institute for Evolutionary Life Sciences, University of Groningen, 9700 AA, Groningen, The Netherlands.
Valérie C ReijersDepartment of Physical Geography, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, 3508 TC, Utrecht, The Netherlands.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Habitat-modifying plants engineer biogeomorphic landscapes through self-reinforcing interactions with their physical environment, or so-called 'biogeomorphic feedbacks'. Nevertheless, benefits can vary across a biogeomorphic landscape gradient and between plant-life stages. For instance, European marram grass forms dunes by trapping sediments which triggers plant growth, in turn promoting sediment trapping. Yet, by increasing dune height and vegetation cover, marram grass mitigates sediment dynamics, inhibiting sediment-growth feedbacks, which ultimately leads to its demise. However, little is known about how dune formation affects the growth and survival of marram grass at different life stages. Therefore, we performed a two-level field experiment testing the effect of position on marram grass across the biogeomorphological dune gradient (beach, foredune, backdune) on (i) the establishment success of juvenile transplants and (ii) the resilience of mature plants to disturbance by above-ground biomass removal, over one growing season. Although juvenile transplants grew similarly well across the dune gradient, significantly fewer beach transplants (67%) survived compared to the foredune- and backdune transplants. Conversely, survival of mature disturbed marram grass (100%) was unaffected, yet recovery was highest at the beach and significantly decreased across the dune gradient. We could link these opposing responses to habitat modification. In heavily modified dune habitats sediment stabilization aided juvenile establishment, whereas the high sediment dynamics of unmodified beaches facilitated adult resilience indicating dune formation invokes a trade-off between establishment and resilience. Our findings highlight the importance of assessing life stage-dependent differences in environmental requirements of habitat-modifying plants to understand population dynamics and landscape-forming processes.

Indexed as

EcosystemPoaceaeBiogeomorphic gradientCalamagrostis arenariaCoastal dunesHabitat-modifying plantsPlant life-stages

Identifiers

PMID40186621
PMCPMC11972180

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.