Positive and negative effects of organisms as physical ecosystem engineers
Positive and negative effects of organisms as physical ecosystem engineers
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DOI：
10.1890/0012-9658(1997)078
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发表时间：
1997-10-01
期刊：
影响因子：
4.8
通讯作者：
Shachak, M
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Jones, CG;Lawton, JH;Shachak, M
物理生态系统工程师是指通过引起生物或非生物材料的物理状态变化，直接或间接地控制其他生物资源可用性的生物。生物的物理生态系统工程是指对栖息地进行物理改造、维护或创造。工程师对许多其他物种的生态效应发生在几乎所有的生态系统中，因为物理状态的变化直接创造了非食物资源，如生存空间，直接控制非生物资源，间接调节非生物力量，反过来影响其他生物对资源的利用。营养相互作用和资源竞争不构成工程。工程可以对其他物种产生重大或微不足道的影响，可能涉及生物体的物理结构（如树木）或生物体的结构（如海狸坝），并且可以（但并非总是）对工程师产生反馈效应。我们认为，在小尺度上，工程对物种丰富度和丰度既有负面影响，也有积极影响，但在更大尺度上，包括生态和进化空间和时间上的工程和非工程环境，净效应可能是积极的。工程师种群动态模型表明，工程师/生境平衡通常（但并不总是）是局部稳定的，并可能表现出长期的循环，对群落和生态系统的稳定具有潜在的影响。到目前为止，还没有足够的数据来参数化任何工程物种的这种模型。因为工程师控制着能量和材料的流动，但并不需要参与这些流动，所以能量、质量和化学计量学在预测哪些工程师将产生重大影响方面似乎并不有用。经验观察提出了一些关于哪些物种将在哪些生态系统中成为重要工程师的潜在概括。我们指出了一些明显的和不那么明显的工程和营养关系相互作用的方式，我们呼吁对物理生态系统工程师，他们的影响，以及他们与营养关系的接口进行更多的研究。
Physical ecosystem engineers are organisms that directly or indirectly control the availability of resources to other organisms by causing physical state changes in biotic or abiotic materials. Physical ecosystem engineering by organisms is the physical modification, maintenance, or creation of habitats. Ecological effects of engineers on many other species occur in virtually all ecosystems because the physical state changes directly create nonfood resources such as living space, directly control abiotic resources, and indirectly modulate abiotic forces that, in turn, affect resource use by other organisms. Trophic interactions and resource competition do not constitute engineering. Engineering can have significant or trivial effects on other species, may involve the physical structure of an organism (like a tree) or structures made by an organism (like a beaver dam), and can, but does not invariably, have feedback effects on the engineer. We argue that engineering has both negative and positive effects on species richness and abundances at small scales, but the net effects are probably positive at larger scales encompassing engineered and nonengineered environments in ecological and evolutionary space and time. Models of the population dynamics of engineers suggest that the engineer/habitat equilibrium is often, but not always, locally stable and may show long-term cycles, with potential ramifications for community and ecosystem stability. As yet, data adequate to parameterize such a model do not exist for any engineer species. Because engineers control flows of energy and materials but do not have to participate in these flows, energy, mass, and stoichiometry do not appear to be useful in predicting which engineers will have big effects. Empirical observations suggest some potential generalizations about which species will be important engineers in which ecosystems. We point out some of the obvious, and not so obvious, ways in which engineering and trophic relations interact, and we call for greater research on physical ecosystem engineers, their impacts, and their interface with trophic relations.