ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION PROMOTES ZOOPLANKTON NETWORK COMPLEXITY IN MEDITERRANEAN COASTAL LAGOONS

Ecological recovery following restoration is typically evaluated using metrics based on species diversity and composition. However, increasing evidence suggests the success of long-term ecological recovery is better evaluated when more complex attributes such as biotic interaction networks are targeted. For example, at the beginning the influence of nearby habitats can promote colonization leading to similar communities in restored or newly created lagoons, but communities often diverge from surrounding water bodies at later successional stages. These changes have been attributed to the effect of biotic interactions, but few studies have tested this assumption. Here, we analyse the zooplankton community of a Mediterranean coastal wetland subjected to a restoration process that involved the creation of new lagoons. We analysed community dissimilarity patterns and used mixed graphical models to infer interaction networks from abundance data. Increasing differences in the community structure between new and old lagoons were detected from the second year after their creation. The overall interaction network was more complex in new than in old lagoons. Interestingly, the network structure in old lagoons increased its complexity three years after restoration. We show how the inclusion of interaction networks for the monitoring of ecosystem recovery reflects unique facets of community complexity, otherwise overlooked when targeting diversity metrics alone.