Despite worldwide efforts to restore degraded mangrove forests in the past decades, defining and tracking restoration success remains a major challenge. In this study, we used a multi-isotope approach to trace ecosystem responses to forest clearing and replanting in a tropical mangrove forest reserve at Matang, Malaysia. We measured δ²H or δD deuterium, δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N (HCN isotopes) in common macroinvertebrate consumers (barnacles, prawns, gastropods, and crabs) across a 70-year chronosequence of mangroves. Functional food web recovery was indicated by a decrease in δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N and increase in δD for gastropod and crab consumers in older forests. Timing of this shift in food web isotopic signals took place between 5 and 15 years post-clearing of mangroves. These changes in food web function paralleled changes in crab community composition, but also reflected changes in physicochemical conditions within the forest, such as increased tree cover and shading, which resulted in a shift of the food web base from microalgal-derived to mangrove-derived organic matter. Prawns and barnacles from tidal waters adjacent to the mangrove forests were estimated to derive 17 to 25% of their nutrition from mangroves, primarily from a microbial loop that was processing localised dissolved and particulate organic matter exported from mangrove marshes. The top-down mixing model approach using combined HCN isotope measurements clearly separated inputs from mangroves versus microalgae for the first time in estuarine food web studies, and tracked ecological mangrove ecosystem recovery. This combination of tracers is recommended for future studies of mangrove conservation and restoration.

尽管在过去的几十年中，全球为恢复退化的红树林做出了努力，但是定义和跟踪恢复成功仍然是一项重大挑战。在这项研究中，我们使用了一种多同位素方法来追踪生态系统对马来西亚马当热带红树林保护区中的森林砍伐和重新种植的反应。我们测量δ ² H或氘δD，δ ¹³ C和δ ¹⁵在公共无脊椎动物消费者（藤壶，虾，腹足，和螃蟹）跨越红树林的70年年代序列N（HCN同位素）。功能性食品网回收率表示通过减少δ ¹³ C和δ ¹⁵在较老的森林中，腹足动物和螃蟹消费者氮和δD的增加。食物网同位素信号发生这种变化的时机发生在红树林被清除后的5至15年之间。食物网功能的这些变化与螃蟹群落组成的变化平行，但也反映了森林内部理化条件的变化，例如树木覆盖率和阴影的增加，这导致食物网基础从微藻类转变为红树林类有机物。据估计，与红树林相邻的潮汐水域的虾和藤壶主要从红树林中吸收其营养的17％至25％，这些微生物主要来自于处理来自红树林沼泽地的溶解性和颗粒状有机物的微生物环。在河口食物网研究中，使用HCN同位素组合测量的自上而下的混合模型方法首次将红树林和微藻的输入明确分开，并跟踪了生态红树林生态系统的恢复。建议将这种示踪剂组合用于以后的红树林保护和恢复研究。