Habitat restoration
Constructed Everglades islands differ in soil fungi
Open access · cc by · source: Europe PMC
After ~18 years, constructed tree islands match natural islands in fungal diversity but not composition, and that difference changes tree growth when hydrology is unconstrained.
Study at a glance
- Design
- Other — Soil fungal survey of Everglades islands plus factorial greenhouse inoculum × hydrology growth trial
- N
- N=22 · 8 constructed + 14 natural tree islands surveyed; soil DNA N=43 samples
- Population
- Constructed and natural Everglades tree-island soils and four native tree species
- Outcome
- Fungal composition divergence and effects on tree growth under flood vs constrained water
Structured fields used in claim comparison tables when every cited study has a complete layer.
Key findings
Diversity and guild mix became similar without actively restoring fungi, but composition along PCo2 still differed. Under flooded (unconstrained) water, live inoculum made that compositional axis matter for trunk diameter; constrained water washed the effect out.
Methodology
Authors sequenced soil fungi from 8 constructed and 14 natural Everglades tree islands, then grew four native tree species with live versus sterile inoculum under constrained versus unconstrained water in a factorial experiment.
Limitations
Results are from LILA experimental islands and a pot/mesocosm growth assay, not a landscape-scale planting success census across the whole Everglades.
How this study connects
Role on claims
Each row is a claim on a concept or method page where this paper supports, challenges, or qualifies the statement. Roles are hand-checked — not a model guess.
This library holds 7 empirical papers on habitat restoration with measured outcomes rather than reviews.
Evidence for the claim as stated.
After ~18 years, constructed tree islands match natural islands in fungal diversity but not composition, and that difference changes tree growth when hydrology is unconstrained.
Evidence for the claim as stated.
A protected-area correlation or a prairie plot is not proof that designation caused the recovery.
Evidence for the claim as stated.
Soil fungi were sequenced from 8 constructed and 14 natural Everglades tree islands, then four native tree species were grown with live versus sterile inoculum under constrained versus unconstrained water. Diversity and guild mix became similar without actively restoring fungi, but composition along PCo2 still differed. Under flooded (unconstrained) water, live inoculum made that compositional axis matter for trunk diameter; constrained water washed the effect out. Results are from LILA experimental islands and a pot/mesocosm assay, not a landscape planting census.
Evidence for the claim as stated.
These mesocosms do not test one carbon-cycle claim. Litter tanks show aromaticity cutting bacterial production 14.5% with lake-colour differences in respiratory cost versus photo-oxidation. Canopy ¹⁵N recovers 3–4× more tracer in wood than soil targeting but does not scale to forest C stocks. Everglades inoculum effects on trunk diameter appear only under unconstrained flooding. Coralline algae are more sensitive to the rate of the pH drop than to low pH as a level, and live thalli at stable pH 7.7 increased daytime calcification. 'Mesocosms show carbon or OA effects' is not a single result.
Evidence for the claim as stated.
Open questions
Tensions this paper is part of
From concept pages' “where studies disagree.” Disagreement means the same question; scope means different assays, populations, or outcomes.
A protected-area correlation or a prairie plot is not proof that designation caused the recovery.
These mesocosms do not test one carbon-cycle claim. Litter tanks show aromaticity cutting bacterial production 14.5% with lake-colour differences in respiratory cost versus photo-oxidation. Canopy ¹⁵N recovers 3–4× more tracer in wood than soil targeting but does not scale to forest C stocks. Everglades inoculum effects on trunk diameter appear only under unconstrained flooding. Coralline algae are more sensitive to the rate of the pH drop than to low pH as a level, and live thalli at stable pH 7.7 increased daytime calcification. 'Mesocosms show carbon or OA effects' is not a single result.
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Same topic cluster — not a recommendation engine.