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<p>Ecotones are areas of transition between ecosystems that often exhibit high habitat heterogeneity. They may serve as habitat in their own right or attract species that exploit ecosystems on either side, thereby facilitating energy flow across systems. Atlantic tidal salt marshes and maritime forests of the southeastern coastal US are adjacent, productive systems. Using motion-triggered wildlife cameras deployed within the narrow forest—marsh ecotone, we quantified visitation of larger (&gt; 10&#xa0;cm body length) terrestrial vertebrate species to the ecotone at 18 locations over 80&#xa0;km of coastline using over 10,000&#xa0;h of surveillance in summer 2017. We detected 12 terrestrial species in the ecotone, with the North American raccoon (<i>Procyon lotor</i>) comprising 68% of all camera captures. At an average of 1.22 raccoon visits per day per 3–8&#xa0;m of marsh-forest frontage, raccoon usage of salt marshes represents a potentially underappreciated pathway for cross-boundary ecological interactions. Eastern gray squirrel, white-tailed deer, and red fox were the next most common visitors. Activity of these top four species was positively correlated in space, but raccoons overlapped little with the other three species temporally, visiting the ecotone primarily at night. The presence of diverse, abundant terrestrial vertebrates at this ecotone suggests it functions as habitat or as a corridor linking forest and marsh. As such, the ecotone and the adjacent salt marsh may be undervalued habitats for coastal terrestrial species.</p>

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Abundant and Diverse Terrestrial Vertebrates at the Maritime Forest—salt Marsh Ecotone

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

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  • 发表日期：

    2026年4月29日

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  • Darren Fraser,
  • Kimberly M. Andrews,
  • James E. Byers

摘要

Ecotones are areas of transition between ecosystems that often exhibit high habitat heterogeneity. They may serve as habitat in their own right or attract species that exploit ecosystems on either side, thereby facilitating energy flow across systems. Atlantic tidal salt marshes and maritime forests of the southeastern coastal US are adjacent, productive systems. Using motion-triggered wildlife cameras deployed within the narrow forest—marsh ecotone, we quantified visitation of larger (> 10 cm body length) terrestrial vertebrate species to the ecotone at 18 locations over 80 km of coastline using over 10,000 h of surveillance in summer 2017. We detected 12 terrestrial species in the ecotone, with the North American raccoon (Procyon lotor) comprising 68% of all camera captures. At an average of 1.22 raccoon visits per day per 3–8 m of marsh-forest frontage, raccoon usage of salt marshes represents a potentially underappreciated pathway for cross-boundary ecological interactions. Eastern gray squirrel, white-tailed deer, and red fox were the next most common visitors. Activity of these top four species was positively correlated in space, but raccoons overlapped little with the other three species temporally, visiting the ecotone primarily at night. The presence of diverse, abundant terrestrial vertebrates at this ecotone suggests it functions as habitat or as a corridor linking forest and marsh. As such, the ecotone and the adjacent salt marsh may be undervalued habitats for coastal terrestrial species.