Search results for "Ecosystem engineer"
showing 6 items of 16 documents
Data from: Interactive effects between physical forces and ecosystem engineers on seed burial: a case study using Spartina anglica
2015
Seed burial (i.e. vertical seed dispersal) has become increasingly valued for its relevance for seed fate and plant recruitment. While ecosystem engineers have been generally considered as the most important drivers of seed burial, the role of physical forces, such as wind or water flow, has been largely overlooked. Using tidal habitats as a model system, and a combination of flume and mesocosm experiments, we investigated the effects of 1) currents, 2) benthic animals with different engineering activities and 3) their interplay on seed burial of a common salt marsh pioneer plant, Spartina anglica. Our results reveal that in such systems, water flow can be of equal or higher importance than…
Unmanned aerial vehicle technology to assess the state of threatened biogenic formations: The vermetid reefs of mediterranean intertidal rocky coasts
2021
Abstract Vermetid bioconstructions are biogenic formations, built by sessile gastropod molluscs belonging to the family Vermetidae worldwide distributed, occurring in the intertidal and upper subtidal in the rocky shores. In the Mediterranean basin, they occur in complex and tridimensional structures that enhance the local biodiversity, allowing to qualify the structuring species as ecosystem engineers. Due to their ecological relevance and considerable extension along the coasts, we assessed their structural complexity using unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology, as tool of littoral cartography analysis of these bioconstructions, and plaster hemispheres dissolution as a descriptor index…
Fecal pellets from a dense aggregation of suspension-feeders in a stream: An example of ecosystem engineering
1998
Blackfly larvae (Diptera: Simuliidae) are "allogenic ecosystem engineers" that capture fine particulate and dissolved matter from suspension and egest much larger fecal pellets. We investigated the effects of blackfly larvae on organic matter transport at 25 sites along a small stream that flowed 500 m from a lake to the sea. Blackfly density was high upstream (>6 x 10(5) ind. m(-2)) and the numbers of fecal pellets in suspension rose markedly downstream from the blackfly aggregation. A total of 1.6 x 10(9) fecal pellets (biomass 3.2 kg C d(-1)) were discharged to the sea each day and 8.0 x 10(8) pellets (biomass 1.6 kg C d(-1)) were lost from suspension. Sedimenting pellets were available …
Invasive Alien Species and Their Effects on Marine Animal Forests
2020
Nonindigenous species are increasingly transported around the world through multiple pathways by a diversity of vectors. Invasive species are a subset of those that are introduced into the receptor community, where they establish and increase their population to a size where they impact the native system. Marine invasive species can therefore interact with and modify native animal forests and/or create novel ones resulting in simple-to-complex changes in material cycling, energy flow, ecosystem structure, and function. Despite the ever increasing number of studies dealing with marine invasive species, mostly biological invasions are mentioned generically as one of a number of threats of dir…
Polypore communities in broadleaved boreal forests
2012
The cover and extent of boreal broadleaved forests have been decreasing due to modern forest management practices and fire suppression. As decomposers of woody material, polypores are ecologically important ecosystem engineers. The ecology and conservation biology of polypores have been studied intensively in boreal coniferous forests. However, only a few studies have focused on the species living on broadleaved trees. To increase knowledge on this species group we conducted polypore surveys in 27 broadleaved forests and 303 forest compartments (539 ha) on the southern boreal zone in Finland and measured dead wood and forest characteristics. We detected altogether 98 polypore species, of wh…
Major loss of coralline algal diversity in response to ocean acidification
2021
[Abstract] Calcified coralline algae are ecologically important in rocky habitats in the marine photic zone worldwide and there is growing concern that ocean acidification will severely impact them. Laboratory studies of these algae in simulated ocean acidification conditions have revealed wide variability in growth, photosynthesis and calcification responses, making it difficult to assess their future biodiversity, abundance and contribution to ecosystem function. Here, we apply molecular systematic tools to assess the impact of natural gradients in seawater carbonate chemistry on the biodiversity of coralline algae in the Mediterranean and the NW Pacific, link this to their evolutionary h…