Ecosystem Engineering

8/14/2019 Ecosystem Engineering

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Prepared by: Johari Jalinas

BSc Biomedical Sciences (UPM)



y Ecosystem engineering consequence: Influence arising fromengineer control on abiotic factors that occurs independent

or irrespective of use of or impact of these abiotic factorson the engineer or the participation by the engineer inbiotic interactions, despite the fact that these can all affectthe engineer and its engineering activities.

y Ecosystem in Ecosystem Engineering: A place with all theliving and nonliving interacting. Hence, ecosystem refers tothe biotic on abiotic of the engineering process and the

abiotic on biotic of engineering consequence



AND ECOSYSTEM ENGINEERING

y

Excluding the possible allusion through retroactivityby Ryder (1879) as quoted earlier, Tansley (1920) clearly recognized the mutual interaction between organismsand the environment when he wrote.

y N evertheless it is clear, even to the most superficial observer, that the complex of interactions between plants and their environment does lead to a certain

degree of order in the arrangement and characters of the resulting vegetations



Example:y

EA RTHWORMS A S KEY ACTORS IN SELF-ORG A NIZED SOIL S Y STEMS



:

ECOSYSTEM ENGINEERING BYSHELTER-BUILDING INSECTSPlant-feeding insects that construct shelters on their food plants provide

ample opportunities for examining the impacts of allogenic ecosystemengineering on natures most diverse group of organisms, the arthropods.Shelters serve as habitats for a variety of plant-dwelling arthropodsthat exploit a range of available resources within these constructs. The

small size and somewhat ephemeral nature of these constructs at fi rstmay suggest their effects on animal community composition andecosystem processes are trivial (see criteria in Jones et al. 1997). A

growingbody of observational and experimental studies, however, demonstrates

that shelter-builders are microhabitat manipulators that construct alarge number of structures that are suffi ciently persistent to permitcolonization

by a wide variety of secondary inhabitants.



y D

ont all organisms change the environment?y A rent all organisms therefore ecosystem engineers?

y If so, isnt the concept too broad to be useful?

y Dont engineers always have large or large-scale impacts?

y Shouldnt engineers be limited to species with large effects?y A rent engineers and keystone species the same?

y Isnt engineering equivalent to facilitation or positive

influence?y Isnt the approach overly reductionist?

y Why do we need the concept?

y How can we use it?

Ecosystem Engineering

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