Feedbacks between geomorphology and biota controlling Earth surface processes and landforms: A review of foundation concepts and current understandings

Corenblit, Dov Jean-François; Baas, Andreas; Bornette, Gudrun; Darrozes, José; Delmotte, Sébastien; Francis, Robert A.; Gurnell, Angela M.; Julien, Frédéric; Naiman, Robert J.; Steiger, Johannes

doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2011.03.002

Cited by 350 publications

(305 citation statements)

References 246 publications

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“…A short-term tree-census in Žofín since 1975 apparently supports the hypothesis. At the same time, it supports the concept of trees as ecosystem engineers (Wilby, 2002;Corenblit et al, 2011).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 65%

“…Disturbance histories of these hydromorphic soils were completely unique. Mutual connections between the environment and tree layer disturbances move the dynamics of forests from the level of one-way biogeomorphology to ecogeomorphology (Corenblit et al, 2011). So far this topic has been studied mostly in fluvial systems (Fisher et al, 2007).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Disturbances can control fine-scale pedodiversity in old-growth forests: is the soil evolution theory disturbed as well?

et al. 2014

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Abstract. Biota–soil interactions in natural ecosystems are the subject of considerable research. Our hypothesis is that individual trees play a significant role through biomechanical and biochemical disturbances affecting soil formation in temperate forests, resulting in a complex spatial pattern of disturbance regimes and a close relationship between disturbance histories and soil units. In Žofínský Prales (Czech Republic) – the fourth oldest, continuously protected reserve in Europe and the first site of global research network SIGEO (Smithsonian Institution Global Earth Observatories) in continental Europe – we compared extensive dendrochronological, soil and pit–mound microtopography data both temporally and spatially from an area of anthropogenically unaffected 42 ha collected from 2008–2012. These data sets differ in terms of information complexity and length of memory: tree cores contain complex information about the disturbance history of the past 350 years, footprints of disturbances from the uprooting of a specific tree can persist 1700 years, and soils represent an extensive composite phenotype that has been developing for at least the entire postglacial period (10 500 years). On average, 6.18–13.41% of the canopy on individual soil units was disturbed per decade. Even though the "backbone" of key events in the development of the forest ecosystem remained the same (e.g. the 1870s, 1880s and 1980s), the internal structure of disturbance history often differed among soil units; the most exceptional were Gleysols and Histosols, where important feedback from soil to trees was expected. However, the characteristics of treethrow dynamics as well as the frequencies of stronger releases in core series also significantly differed along a gradient of terrestrial soil weathering and leaching (Haplic Cambisols – Dystric Cambisols – Entic Podzols – Albic Podzols). These results suggest the existence of several disturbance regimes within the forest, controlling fine-scale pedodiversity.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 65%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Disturbances can control fine-scale pedodiversity in old-growth forests: is the soil evolution theory disturbed as well?

et al. 2014

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“…The second, and perhaps even greater consequence of ecological inheritance is that species engaging in niche construction tend to increasingly alter the environments and adaptive fitness experienced by other species, generating broad changes in the ecology and evolution of entire communities (Odling-Smee and Laland 2012). For example, niche construction by bioturbation, biostabilization, bioerosion, and bioconstruction are increasingly recognized as globally significant forces shaping both biotic and geomorphic processes across the Earth over the long term (Erwin 2008, Corenblit et al 2011). The oxygenation of Earth's atmosphere by photosynthetic microorganisms is perhaps the ultimate example of the global transformative power of niche construction (Odling-Smee et al 2003c).…”

Section: Ecosystem Engineering Niche Construction and Ecological Inmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecology in an anthropogenic biosphere

Ellis

2015

Ecological Monographs

454

503

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Abstract. Humans, unlike any other multicellular species in Earth's history, have emerged as a global force that is transforming the ecology of an entire planet. It is no longer possible to understand, predict, or successfully manage ecological pattern, process, or change without understanding why and how humans reshape these over the long term. Here, a general causal theory is presented to explain why human societies gained the capacity to globally alter the patterns, processes, and dynamics of ecology and how these anthropogenic alterations unfold over time and space as societies themselves change over human generational time. Building on existing theories of ecosystem engineering, niche construction, inclusive inheritance, cultural evolution, ultrasociality, and social change, this theory of anthroecological change holds that sociocultural evolution of subsistence regimes based on ecosystem engineering, social specialization, and non-kin exchange, or ''sociocultural niche construction,'' is the main cause of both the long-term upscaling of human societies and their unprecedented transformation of the biosphere. Human sociocultural niche construction can explain, where classic ecological theory cannot, the sustained transformative effects of human societies on biogeography, ecological succession, ecosystem processes, and the ecological patterns and processes of landscapes, biomes, and the biosphere. Anthroecology theory generates empirically testable hypotheses on the forms and trajectories of long-term anthropogenic ecological change that have significant theoretical and practical implications across the subdisciplines of ecology and conservation. Though still at an early stage of development, anthroecology theory aligns with and integrates established theoretical frameworks including social-ecological systems, social metabolism, countryside biogeography, novel ecosystems, and anthromes. The ''fluxes of nature'' are fast becoming ''cultures of nature.'' To investigate, understand, and address the ultimate causes of anthropogenic ecological change, not just the consequences, human sociocultural processes must become as much a part of ecological theory and practice as biological and geophysical processes are now. Strategies for achieving this goal and for advancing ecological science and conservation in an increasingly anthropogenic biosphere are presented.

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“…Vegetation encroachment by pioneer species and successional processes induce abiotic and biotic transitions in geomorphic processes from the unvegetated channel bed and bar surfaces to grassland, shrubs, and treed areas at the margins of bars/islands and on floodplains (Corenblit et al, 2007(Corenblit et al, , 2011Gurnell, 2014;Hickin, 1984;Hupp and Osterkamp, 1996;Millar, 2000;Tooth and Nanson, 2000). Vegetation attributes influence the pattern of roughness elements and the associated distribution of flow energy, thereby affecting the distribution of erosional and depositional processes, and resulting morphological attributes (including the grain size distribution of bed/bar materials).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vegetative impacts upon bedload transport capacity and channel stability for differing alluvial planforms in the Yellow River source zone

Brierley

et al. 2016

Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci.

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Abstract. The influence of vegetation upon bedload transport and channel morphodynamics is examined along a channel stability gradient ranging from meandering to anabranching to anabranching-braided to fully braided planform conditions along trunk and tributary reaches of the Upper Yellow River in western China. Although the regional geology and climate are relatively consistent across the study area, there is a distinct gradient in the presence and abundance of riparian vegetation for these reaches atop the QinghaiTibet Plateau (elevations in the study area range from 2800 to 3400 m a.s.l.). To date, the influence of vegetative impacts upon channel planform and bedload transport capacity of alluvial reaches of the Upper Yellow River remains unclear because of a lack of hydrological and field data. In this region, the types and pattern of riparian vegetation vary with planform type as follows: trees exert the strongest influence in the anabranching reach, the meandering reach flows through meadow vegetation, the anabranching-braided reach has a grass, herb, and sparse shrub cover, and the braided reach has no riparian vegetation. A non-linear relation between vegetative cover on the valley floor and bedload transport capacity is evident, wherein bedload transport capacity is the highest for the anabranching reach, roughly followed by the anabranching-braided, braided, and meandering reaches. The relationship between the bedload transport capacity of a reach and sediment supply from upstream exerts a significant influence upon channel stability. Bedload transport capacity during the flood season (June-September) in the braided reach is much less than the rate of sediment supply, inducing bed aggradation and dynamic channel adjustments. Rates of channel adjustment are less pronounced for the anabranching-braided and anabranching reaches, while the meandering reach is relatively stable (i.e., this is a passive meandering reach).

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Feedbacks between geomorphology and biota controlling Earth surface processes and landforms: A review of foundation concepts and current understandings

Cited by 350 publications

References 246 publications

Disturbances can control fine-scale pedodiversity in old-growth forests: is the soil evolution theory disturbed as well?

Disturbances can control fine-scale pedodiversity in old-growth forests: is the soil evolution theory disturbed as well?

Ecology in an anthropogenic biosphere

Vegetative impacts upon bedload transport capacity and channel stability for differing alluvial planforms in the Yellow River source zone

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