Resilience of intertidal habitats under multiple stressors: insights from a global meta-analysis

Antonio Provenzale
1,2*
Francesco Paolo Mancuso
1,2
Maria del Mar Bosch-Belmar
1,2
Gianluca Sarà
1,2
1
Department of Earth and Marine Sciences (DiSTEM), University of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, Ed. 16,, Palermo, Palermo - 90128, Italia
2
NBFC, National Biodiversity Future Center, Piazza Marina 61, Palermo, Palermo - 90133, Italia

Intertidal ecosystems are among the most dynamic and ecologically significant environments on the planet, providing essential services and serving as sentinel systems for detecting environmental change. Despite that, their resilience to the increasing biotic and abiotic stressors remains poorly explored. The cumulative and interactive effects of multiple pressures, such as pollution, resource exploitation, habitat modification, and climate change, on community-level responses require urgent synthesis, as previous research has frequently concentrated on individual stressors. This study proposes a global meta-analysis, based on a comprehensive review and statistical synthesis of peer reviewed research from diverse geographical regions, to identify, quantify, and compare the primary drivers shaping intertidal community resilience and to assess the relative importance of these stressors in determining its three components - resistance to change, recovery capacity, and reorganization potential. A review of ~90 case studies on intertidal ecosystems shows that 20–25 (25–30%) explicitly address resilience, often in relation to multiple stressors, marine heatwaves, and anthropogenic disturbances. Extreme heat and marine heatwaves are the most cited stressors (47 studies), followed by cumulative stressors (15), physical disturbances for example storms and low-tide exposure (15+), ocean acidification (11), and anthropogenic impacts such as trampling (8).The results will fill a critical knowledge gap by advancing our understanding of how multiple drivers interactively affect intertidal community stability and recovery potential. Ultimately, this synthesis will support evidence-based recommendations for coastal ecosystem management and conservation by identifying which stressors most strongly compromise resilience and highlighting where mitigation and intervention efforts could be most effective. This research will contribute to the development of more adaptive and integrated strategies to protect intertidal biodiversity and ecosystems in the context of global change.

Ecosistemi e cambiamento climatico
Premio "Carlo Gaggi" per il miglior poster al congresso, Borse di partecipazione
Copyright © 2026 S.IT.E. - Italian Society of Ecology
picture