Ecosystem Engineers in the World Coasts: Case Studies and Conceptual Linkages

Abstract

Research on physical ecosystem engineering—i.e., the structural modification of environments by organisms—has flourished during the last two decades. At present, the importance of physical ecosystem engineers for the biodiversity and the functioning of ecosystems is well recognized by scientists. This Special Issue contains fifteen papers that illustrate the diversity of physical ecosystem engineering processes that occur in the world coastal habitats—from coastal dunes to the shallow subtidal zone. It includes 2 reviews comparing ecosystem engineering attributes and impacts across taxa and 13 case studies that inform our general understanding of the variation in engineering impacts, compound engineering effects, novel engineering interactions, and engineered structural legacies.

Macroalgae ecosystem engineering effects mediated by an invasive reef-builder polychaete in a Southwestern Atlantic coastal lagoon

“…The ecosystem engineering concept (i.e., organisms that modulate the availability of resources to other species by causing physical state changes; Jones et al, 1994) encompass a variety of ecological phenomena not addressed by the historical focus of ecology on trophic relations (Gutiérrez and Jones, 2008), but that had increasingly gained importance in ecological research during the last two decades (Gutiérrez, 2020). In particular, the importance of ecosystem engineering in mudflats is widely known (e.g., Passarelli et al, 2014;Alvarez et al, 2015).…”