Ecotone formation through ecological niche construction: the role of biodiversity and species interactions.

ABSTRACT: Rapid changes in species composition, also known as ecotones, can result from various causes including rapid changes in environmental conditions, or physiological thresholds. The possibility that ecotones arise from ecological niche construction by ecosystem engineers has received little attention. In this study, we investigate how the diversity of ecosystem engineers, and their interactions, can give rise to ecotones. We build a spatially explicit dynamical model that couples a multispecies community and its abiotic environment. We use numerical simulations and analytical techniques to determine the biotic and abiotic conditions under which ecotone emergence is expected to occur, and the role of biodiversity therein. We show that the diversity of ecosystem engineers can lead to indirect i

SUBMITTER: Liautaud K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7116457 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature