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Bivalves are key components of coastal ecosystems because they link pelagic and benthic food webs, and shape the landscape through habitat modification. Nevertheless, many bivalve stocks have dramatically declined, and recruitment failure due to (anthropogenically-) increased predation by mesopredators and loss of facilitation mechanisms have been separately hypothesized as underlying causes. Here, we tested the interactive effects of predation and habitat modification on bivalve recruitment in a large-scale experiment in the Wadden Sea, one of the world’s largest intertidal soft-sediment ecosystems. We applied anti-erosion mats to simulate biotic attachment and substrate stabilization by commonly found tubeworm beds, crossed this with addition of adult mussels, and manipulated shrimp and crab predation using exclosures within these treatments. Epibenthic mussel recruits were only found in …