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97 results for “ecosystem engineering”
Data from: Collective aggressiveness of an ecosystem engineer is associated with coral recovery
The ecological impacts of animal groups may be different and predictable depending on their collective behavior. Farmerfish (Stegastes nigricans) live in social groups and collectively defend gardens of palatable algae. These gardens also serve as settlement and nursery habitats for corals because farmerfish mob corallivores that attempt to forage on corals within their gardens. We detected large among-colony differences in farmerfish collective aggression towards intruder fish that persist across years. We further found that the territories of aggressive groups and territories containing larger farmerfish provided greater protection to corals than non-aggressive groups: territories of aggressive groups naturally harbored more branching corals than non-aggressive groups, and experimentally outplanted branching corals experienced 80% less skeletal loss and grew larger over 25 weeks in aggressive territories and in territories guarded by larger fish. These findings hint that factors that increase farmerfish group aggressiveness (e.g., higher temperatures) could enhance the protective value of their territories for the replenishment of coral populations.
Disturbance and the (surprising?) role of ecosystem engineering in explaining spatial patterns of non-native plant establishment
<p>The Intermediate Disturbance Hypothesis is widely considered to be wrong but is rarely tested against alternative hypotheses. It predicts that soil disturbances and herbivory have identical impacts on species richness via identical mechanisms (reduction in biomass and in competition). An alternative hypothesis is that the specific traits of disturbance agents (small mammals) and plants differentially affects richness or abundance of different plant groups. We tested these hypotheses on a degu (<em>Octodon degus</em>) colony in central Chile. We ask whether native and non-native forbs respond differently to degu bioturbation on runways vs. herbivory on grazing lawns. We ask whether this can explain the increase in non-native plants on degu colonies. We found that biopedturbation did not explain the locations of non-native plants. We did not find direct evidence of grazing increasing non-native herbs either, but a grazing effect appears to be mediated by grass, which is the dominant cover. Further, we provide supplementary evidence to support our interpretation that a key mechanism of non-native spread is the formation of dry soil conditions on grazing lawns. Thus ecosystem engineering (alteration of soil qualities) may be an outcome of disturbances, which each interact with specific plant traits, to create the observed pattern of non-native spread in the colony. Based on these results we propose to extend Jentsch & White's (2019) concept of combined pulse/ disturbance events to the long-term process duality of ecosystem engineering/ disturbance.</p>
Barriers to restoration: Pollution alters nurse effects for an ecosystem engineer
<p>Nurse plants modify the environment to facilitate the recruitment of propagules, and are potentially valuable tools for ecological restoration. Yet empirical tests, particularly in polluted environments, remain rare. The few studies that have examined nurse-effects in polluted environments report exclusively positive effects, but most tests have focused on pollution-tolerant species in metal contaminated environments. Biotic interactions are highly context-dependent, however, such that extrapolations to other suites of species and pollutant types appear premature. We examined changes in intraspecific nurse-effects across pollution regimes for a pollution-sensitive, macroalgal ecosystem engineer that is a target for intertidal restoration. In a manipulative field experiment, we out-planted propagules in the presence and absence of conspecific canopies at (i) unpolluted control shores and (ii) shores that received a partially-remediated (low toxicity) sewage effluent, and monitored the performance (survival and growth) of these propagules over-time. Algal canopies facilitated the survival and early growth of propagules at control sites but not at partially-remediated sites, where propagules performed poorly irrespective of canopy presence. <i>Synthesis and applications: </i> Using a pollution-sensitive ecosystem engineer, we show for the first time that nurse-plant effects can be contingent on pollution regime, and that exposure to pollution (even at low levels) can erode nurse effects. We caution that nurse-plants are unlikely to be a universal tool for ecological restoration, even in systems where facilitative nurse-effects naturally occur (in our case, algal canopies on unpolluted rocky reefs). Management practitioners should carefully consider the pollution tolerance of target species, and test whether nurse-plant effects are maintained under current pollution regimes, before large-scale translocations are attempted.</p>
Supplementary material 1 from: Shaffer JA, Parks D, Campbell K, Moragne A, Hueske B, Adams P, Bauman JM (2023) Coastal beaver, Chinook, coho, chum salmon and trout response to nearshore changes resulting from diking and large-scale dam removals: synergistic ecosystem engineering and restoration in the coastal zone. Nature Conservation 53: 61-83. https://doi.org/10.3897/natureconservation.53.85421
Mean woody plant abundance surveyed from the riparian and shrub-emergent marsh vegetation
Figure 3 in Natural history and ecology of the slender crayfish (Faxonius compressus): an ecosystem engineer in the Western Highland Rim, USA
Figure 3. (A–D) Slender crayfish Faxonius compressus inhabiting burrows.
Data from: Interactive effects between physical forces and ecosystem engineers on seed burial: a case study using Spartina anglica
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Data from: Modification of plant-induced responses by an insect ecosystem engineer influences the colonization behaviour of subsequent shelter-users
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Data from: Collective aggressiveness of an ecosystem engineer is associated with coral recovery
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Data from: Ecosystem engineering strengthens bottom-up and weakens top-down effects via trait-mediated indirect interactions
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Local thermal adaptation and limited gene flow constrain future climate responses of a marine ecosystem engineer
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Barriers to restoration: Pollution alters nurse effects for an ecosystem engineer
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Disturbance and the (surprising?) role of ecosystem engineering in explaining spatial patterns of non-native plant establishment
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Data from: An insect ecosystem engineer alleviates drought stress in plants without increasing plant susceptibility to an above-ground herbivore
Climate change models predict more extreme rainfall patterns, ranging from droughts to deluges, which will inevitably affect primary productivity in many terrestrial ecosystems. Insects within the ecosystem, living above- and below-ground, may modify plant responses to water stress. For example, some functional groups improve soil conditions via resource provision, potentially alleviating water stress. Enhanced resource provision may, however, render plants more susceptible to herbivores and negate beneficial effects. Using a model system, we tested how plants (Brassica oleracea) responded to drought, ambient and increased precipitation scenarios when interacting with both a soil conditioning ecosystem engineer (dung beetles; Bubas bison) and an above-ground herbivore, the major crop pest diamondback moth (Plutella xylostella). Dung beetles enhanced soil water retention by 10% and promoted growth in plants subjected to drought by 280%, relieving the impacts of water stress on plants. Under drought conditions, plants grown with dung beetles had c. 30% more leaves and were over twice as tall as those without dung beetles. Dung beetles produced a 2·7-fold increase in nitrogen content and more than a threefold increase in carbon content of the shoots, though shoot concentrations of nitrogen and carbon were unchanged. Carbon concentrations in roots, however, were increased by dung beetles under both ambient and increased precipitation regimes. Increased precipitation reduced root and shoot nitrogen concentrations by 16% and 30%, relative to plants under ambient regimes, respectively, most likely due to dilution effects of increased plant growth under increased precipitation. Soil carbon and nitrogen concentrations were largely unaffected. While dung beetles enhanced plant growth and nitrogen content in plants experiencing drought, the anticipated increase in plant suitability to herbivores did not arise, possibly because shoot nitrogen concentrations and C:N ratio were unaffected. To our knowledge, this is the first report of an insect ecosystem engineer alleviating the effects of predicted drought events on plants via physical manipulation of the soil matrix. Moreover, their effects did not change plant suitability to an above-ground herbivore, pointing to potential beneficial role for insect ecosystem engineers in climate change adaptation and crop protection.
Data from: Northern flickers only work when they have to: how individual traits, population size and landscape disturbances affect excavation rates of an ecosystem engineer
Woodpeckers are considered ecosystem engineers because they excavate tree cavities which are used subsequently by many species of secondary cavity nesters for breeding. Woodpeckers have the choice of excavating a new hole or reusing an existing one, and this propensity to excavate (e) may affect community dynamics but has rarely been investigated. Using 18 years of data on a population of northern flickers Colaptes auratus, I tested six hypotheses to explain the propensity to excavate (e) in a landscape which experienced two types of disturbance: pine beetles and wildfires. Woodpecker age, breeding experience and mate retention had little influence on e which varied between 13-39% annually and averaged 23% for 1843 first nests over the 18 years. Body size and body condition of males and females were not associated with e but rates of excavation declined seasonally, suggesting time rather than energy costs limited excavation effort. Reduced cavity availability mediated through high conspecific density coupled with wildfires triggered relatively high excavation rates, up to 39% but e decreased to baseline levels three years after the landscape disturbances. Nearly 2/3 of males did not excavate in their lifetime but apparently, e is great enough to balance the average rate of cavity tree loss in this forest which is 11% annually. Excavation propensity in flickers is flexible, but the birds reduce their work levels if there is a surplus of holes available.
Data from: Northern flickers only work when they have to: how individual traits, population size and landscape disturbances affect excavation rates of an ecosystem engineer
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Data from: An insect ecosystem engineer alleviates drought stress in plants without increasing plant susceptibility to an above-ground herbivore
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Data from: Engineering a plant community to deliver multiple ecosystem services
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Allen Brain Atlas
Allen Brain Atlas is an Allen Institute collection of brain map atlases, datasets, APIs, and analysis tools covering mouse, human, and non-human primate brain resources.
Annotated Behaviour and Observability Dataset (ABODe)
ABODe is a University of Edinburgh DataShare dataset for behavior classification in group-housed mice using home-cage video, identities, bounding boxes, ground-plate positions, and annotator labels.
DANDI Archive for NWB datasets
DANDI is a BRAIN Initiative archive for publishing and sharing neurophysiology data, including electrophysiology, optophysiology, and behavioral data packaged as NWB and related standards.
International Brain Laboratory public data
The International Brain Laboratory public data releases expose standardized mouse decision-making experiments, including Neuropixels recordings, widefield calcium imaging, behavior, and session metadata accessed through the ONE API.
OpenNeuro
OpenNeuro is a free, open platform for sharing neuroimaging datasets, with public search, dataset pages, and download paths for web, S3, DataLad, and the OpenNeuro CLI.