Study of Salt Marsh Consumer Diversity and Ecosystem Function on Sapelo Island, Georgia, from May-December 2011

This dataset contains the results of a field study investigating the effect of salt marsh consumer diversity on ecosystem functioning. Our field studies reveal that a diverse consumer assemblage significantly enhances simultaneous functioning of disparate ecosystem processes (i.e., productivity, decomposition, and infiltration). Extreme functional and phylogenetic differences among consumers underlie this relationship. Each marsh consumer affected at least one different ecosystem function and each individual function was affected by more than two consumers.