Habitat complexity: approaches and future directions
Habitat complexity: approaches and future directions
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DOI：
10.1007/s10750-011-0974-z
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发表时间：
2012-04-01
期刊：
影响因子：
2.6
通讯作者：
Warfe, Danielle M.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Kovalenko, Katya E.;Thomaz, Sidinei M.;Warfe, Danielle M.
生境复杂性是构成生物群落最重要的因素之一，但我们对其潜在机制仍缺乏基本的认识。虽然它是保护管理的主要目标之一，但没有方法可以比较不同生态系统的复杂性，并以系统特定的定性评估为主。尽管它对动物的多样性和丰富性具有压倒性的重要性，但令人惊讶的是，人们对研究它对其他群落和生态系统属性的影响几乎没有兴趣。我们讨论了这种影响的可能性，概述了未来研究的潜在成果领域，并认为复杂性可能通过作为捕食者-猎物相互作用的解耦机制而涉及群落持久性和生态系统稳定性。我们简要概述了用于量化不同生态系统复杂性的方法，重点介绍了本期《水生生物学》的贡献，并讨论了这些方法在跨生态系统比较中的潜在应用。在这样一个前所未有的栖息地丧失的时代，更好地理解栖息地复杂性的作用对于保护生物多样性和生态系统功能至关重要。
Habitat complexity is one of the most important factors structuring biotic assemblages, yet we still lack basic understanding of the underlying mechanisms. Although it is one of the primary targets in conservation management, no methods are available for comparing complexity across ecosystems, and system-specific qualitative assessment predominates. Despite its overwhelming importance for faunal diversity and abundance, there has been surprisingly little interest in examining its effects on other community and ecosystem attributes. We discuss possibilities of such effects, outlining potentially fruitful areas for future research, and argue that complexity may be implicated in community persistence and ecosystem stability by acting as a decoupling mechanism in predator-prey interactions. We provide a brief overview of methods used to quantify complexity in different ecosystems, highlighting contributions of the current issue of Hydrobiologia, and discuss potential application of these approaches for cross-ecosystem comparisons. Better understanding of the role of habitat complexity resulting from such comparisons is critically important for preservation of biodiversity and ecosystem function in an era of unprecedented habitat loss.