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However, environmental factors like stress or energy gradients could modify their influence. Furthermore, engineering effects include legacies that persist after the engineer\u2019s death that may interact with gradients differently than the live engineer. Here, we show that live and legacy effects of the oyster\n                    <jats:italic>Crassostrea virginica<\/jats:italic>\n                    , a reef-building ecosystem engineer, act in opposing directions across a physical energy gradient, reversing oysters\u2019 net engineering effect. When energy is low, live oysters primarily buffer erosional forces and increase habitat availability for cordgrass (\n                    <jats:italic>Spartina alterniflora)<\/jats:italic>\n                    . When energy is high, legacy effects of oysters on cordgrass are negative, because high energy piles dead oyster shells onto cordgrass and smothers it. Thus, with increasing energy, net effects of engineering on cordgrass shift from positive live effects to negative legacy effects. Estuary wide, oysters have a net positive effect on cordgrass, because high energy coastlines \u2013 where negative effects predominate \u2013 are rare. Live and legacy engineering can have disparate, context-dependent effects; combined, they determine the overall effects of engineers on communities.\n                  <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1007\/s00442-026-05921-6","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,28]],"date-time":"2026-08-28T14:55:58Z","timestamp":1787928958000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Legacy and live effects of ecosystem engineer differ across energy gradient, reversing net engineering outcome"],"prefix":"10.1007","volume":"208","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4637-6217","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"R. Daniel","family":"Harris","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"James E.","family":"Byers","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,28]]},"reference":[{"key":"5921_CR2","unstructured":"ArcGIS Desktop (2011) Release 10. ESRI 2011. Environmental Systems Research Institute, Redlands, CA. http:\/\/www.esri.com\/"},{"key":"5921_CR1","unstructured":"Alexander C, Hladik C (2015) High-resolution mapping of vegetation, elevation, salinity and bathymetry to advance coastal habitat management in Georgia. Final Rep. submitted to Georgia Department Natural Resources Georgia Coast. Manage, p 63"},{"key":"5921_CR3","volume-title":"The ecology of the intertidal oyster reefs of the South Atlantic coast: a community profile","author":"LM Bahr","year":"1981","unstructured":"Bahr LM, Lanier WP (1981) The ecology of the intertidal oyster reefs of the South Atlantic coast: a community profile. US Fish and Wildlife Service, Office of Biological Services, Washington, D.C. FWS\/OBS-81\/15 105pp"},{"key":"5921_CR5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"22","DOI":"10.1111\/1365-2435.14130","volume":"38","author":"JE Byers","year":"2024","unstructured":"Byers JE (2024) Using ecosystem engineers to enhance multiple ecosystem processes. Funct Ecol 38:22\u201336","journal-title":"Funct Ecol"},{"issue":"9","key":"5921_CR6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"493","DOI":"10.1016\/j.tree.2006.06.002","volume":"21","author":"JE Byers","year":"2006","unstructured":"Byers JE, Cuddington K, Jones CG, Talley TS, Hastings A, Lambrinos JG, Crooks JA, Wilson WG (2006) Using ecosystem engineers to restore ecological systems. Trends Ecol Evol 21(9):493\u2013500","journal-title":"Trends Ecol Evol"},{"key":"5921_CR7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1051","DOI":"10.1002\/lno.10073","volume":"60","author":"JE Byers","year":"2015","unstructured":"Byers JE, Grabowski JH, Piehler MF, Hughes AR, Weiskel HW, Malek JC, Kimbro DL (2015) Geographic variation in intertidal oyster reef properties and the influence of tidal prism. 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University of Georgia, Athens, GA"},{"issue":"3","key":"5921_CR11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"211","DOI":"10.1641\/0006-3568(2006)056[0211:EEAEGI]2.0.CO;2","volume":"56","author":"CM Crain","year":"2006","unstructured":"Crain CM, Bertness MD (2006) Ecosystem engineering across environmental gradients: Implications for conservation and management. Bioscience 56(3):211\u2013218","journal-title":"Bioscience"},{"key":"5921_CR10","unstructured":"Crawford FR (2018) Geomorphology of shell ridges and their effect on the stabilization of the Biloxi Marsh, East Louisiana. University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 2544"},{"key":"5921_CR12","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"105344","DOI":"10.1016\/j.marenvres.2021.105344","volume":"169","author":"LB Firth","year":"2021","unstructured":"Firth LB, Curd A, Hawkins SJ, Knights AM, Blaze JA, Burrows MT, Dubois SF, Edwards H, Foggo A, Gribben PE, Grant L, Harris RD, Mieszkowska N, Nunes FLD, Nunn JD, Power AM, O\u2019Riordan RM, McGrath D, Simkanin C, O\u2019Connor NE (2021) On the diversity and distribution of a data deficient habitat in a poorly mapped region: The case of Sabellaria alveolata L. in Ireland. 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Aquat Conservation: Mar Freshw Ecosyst 30(11):2050\u20132065","journal-title":"Aquat Conservation: Mar Freshw Ecosyst"}],"container-title":["Oecologia"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/content\/pdf\/10.1007\/s00442-026-05921-6.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/article\/10.1007\/s00442-026-05921-6","content-type":"text\/html","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"text-mining"},{"URL":"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/content\/pdf\/10.1007\/s00442-026-05921-6.pdf","content-type":"application\/pdf","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,9,6]],"date-time":"2026-09-06T08:16:28Z","timestamp":1788682588000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/10.1007\/s00442-026-05921-6"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,28]]},"references-count":34,"journal-issue":{"issue":"9","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,9]]}},"alternative-id":["5921"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/s00442-026-05921-6","relation":{},"ISSN":["0029-8549","1432-1939"],"issn-type":[{"value":"0029-8549","type":"print"},{"value":"1432-1939","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,28]]},"assertion":[{"value":"18 April 2025","order":1,"name":"received","label":"Received","group":{"name":"ArticleHistory","label":"Article History"}},{"value":"1 June 2026","order":2,"name":"accepted","label":"Accepted","group":{"name":"ArticleHistory","label":"Article History"}},{"value":"28 August 2026","order":3,"name":"first_online","label":"First Online","group":{"name":"ArticleHistory","label":"Article History"}},{"value":"The authors declare no conflicts of interest and confirm this manuscript is being submitted exclusively to\n                      \n                        Oecologia\n                      \n                      . We are not aware of any other manuscripts or publications with similar information or content as the enclosed manuscript.","order":1,"name":"Ethics","label":"Conflict of interest","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Declarations"}},{"value":"Not applicable.","order":2,"name":"Ethics","label":"Consent for publication","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Declarations"}},{"value":"This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.","order":3,"name":"Ethics","label":"Ethics approval","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Declarations"}},{"value":"Not applicable.","order":4,"name":"Ethics","label":"Consent to participate","group":{"name":"EthicsHeading","label":"Declarations"}}],"article-number":"121"}}