Book ChapterDOI
Organisms as ecosystem engineers
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The role that many organisms play in the creation, modification and maintenance of habitats does not involve direct trophic interactions between species, but they are nevertheless important and common.Abstract:
Interactions between organisms are a major determinant of the distribution and abundance of species. Ecology textbooks (e.g., Ricklefs 1984, Krebs 1985, Begon et al. 1990) summarise these important interactions as intra- and interspecific competition for abiotic and biotic resources, predation, parasitism and mutualism. Conspicuously lacking from the list of key processes in most text books is the role that many organisms play in the creation, modification and maintenance of habitats. These activities do not involve direct trophic interactions between species, but they are nevertheless important and common. The ecological literature is rich in examples of habitat modification by organisms, some of which have been extensively studied (e.g. Thayer 1979, Naiman et al. 1988).read more
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Journal ArticleDOI
Biodiversity loss and its impact on humanity
Bradley J. Cardinale,J. Emmett Duffy,Andrew Gonzalez,David U. Hooper,Charles Perrings,Patrick Venail,Anita Narwani,Georgina M. Mace,David Tilman,David A. Wardle,Ann P. Kinzig,Gretchen C. Daily,Michel Loreau,James B. Grace,Anne Larigauderie,Diane S. Srivastava,Shahid Naeem +16 more
TL;DR: It is argued that human actions are dismantling the Earth’s ecosystems, eliminating genes, species and biological traits at an alarming rate, and the question of how such loss of biological diversity will alter the functioning of ecosystems and their ability to provide society with the goods and services needed to prosper is asked.
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Positive and negative effects of organisms as physical ecosystem engineers
TL;DR: It is argued 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.
References
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Book
Ecology: The Experimental Analysis of Distribution and Abundance
TL;DR: This book discusses ecosystem dynamics under Changing Climates, which includes community dynamics at the community level, and factors that limit Distributions, which limit the amount of variation in population size.
Journal ArticleDOI
The Ecology of Natural Disturbance and Patch Dynamics.
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Ecology: Individuals Populations and Communities
TL;DR: A revised and updated edition of this textbook is presented in this paper, with a clear presentation of mathematical aspects and the material aims to be accessible to the undergraduate with little experience and also stimulating to practising ecologists.