Gardeners know the vital role of bioturbation — the process of mixing nutrients and oxygen through soil resulting from the activities of creatures like worms and birds, together with plant root systems and microbes. The process is also vital for marine ecosystems, particularly for turning over the sediments in coastal shallow water ecosystems, such as mangrove swamps.

Now, Jenny Booth, Daniele Daffonchio and co-workers at KAUST have reviewed current understanding of bioturbation in mangroves, with a particular focus on how this process and its “ecosystem engineers“ feed into ecosystem functioning on the macro- and microscales.

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