How much do ecosystem engineers contribute to landscape evolution? A case study on Tatra marmots

Ballová, Zuzana; Pekárik, Ladislav; Píš, Vladimír; Šibík, Jozef

doi:10.1016/j.catena.2019.104121

Cited by 18 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…As burrowing animals are expected to increase landscape heterogeneity [76,77], we calculated several texture metrics and diversity indices. The texture metrics were calculated from the spectral bands, two vegetation indices, and the vegetation height predictor, and were derived from gray-level co-occurrence matrices using the 'glcm' R-package [78].…”

Section: Vegetation Indicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous studies using heterogeneity and texture metrics in their models have identified them as significant for the prediction of the habitats of burrowing vertebrates [85]. An association between landscape heterogeneity and the distribution of animals has been shown in a number of ecological studies considering the long-term impacts of burrowing animals [76,77]. Burrowing vertebrates, in particular, have been found to create dense vegetation patches due to the concentration of resources near burrows [18,24,25].…”

Section: Predictor Importancementioning

confidence: 99%

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Area-Wide Prediction of Vertebrate and Invertebrate Hole Density and Depth across a Climate Gradient in Chile Based on UAV and Machine Learning

Grigusova

Larsen

Achilles

et al. 2021

Drones

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Burrowing animals are important ecosystem engineers affecting soil properties, as their burrowing activity leads to the redistribution of nutrients and soil carbon sequestration. The magnitude of these effects depends on the spatial density and depth of such burrows, but a method to derive this type of spatially explicit data is still lacking. In this study, we test the potential of using consumer-oriented UAV RGB imagery to determine the density and depth of holes created by burrowing animals at four study sites along a climate gradient in Chile, by combining UAV data with empirical field plot observations and machine learning techniques. To enhance the limited spectral information in RGB imagery, we derived spatial layers representing vegetation type and height and used landscape textures and diversity to predict hole parameters. Across-site models for hole density generally performed better than those for depth, where the best-performing model was for the invertebrate hole density (R2 = 0.62). The best models at individual study sites were obtained for hole density in the arid climate zone (R2 = 0.75 and 0.68 for invertebrates and vertebrates, respectively). Hole depth models only showed good to fair performance. Regarding predictor importance, the models heavily relied on vegetation height, texture metrics, and diversity indices.

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Section: Vegetation Indicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Predictor Importancementioning

confidence: 99%

Area-Wide Prediction of Vertebrate and Invertebrate Hole Density and Depth across a Climate Gradient in Chile Based on UAV and Machine Learning

Grigusova

Larsen

Achilles

et al. 2021

Drones

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…More studies have used methods that measure and compare soil physicochemical properties at multiple spatial scales between disturbed and undisturbed areas. For instance, comparative measurement of soil properties in combination with microhabitats scale at the landscape scale [19,30,31,32,33] ; and combination with microhabitats scale at the habitat scale [14,24,29,34,35] ; and combination with habitat scale at the landscape scale, but few studies were used this method [36,37] . In general, the studies based on the combination of multiple spatial scales have become more popular.…”

Section: Comparative Measurement For Soil Physicochemical Propertiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Review of the Engineering Role of Burrowing Animals: Implication of Chinese Pangolin as an Ecosystem Engineer

et al. 2021

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Ecosystem engineers are organisms that alter the distribution of resources in the environment by creating, modifying, maintaining and/or destroying the habitat. They can affect the structure and function of the whole ecosystem furthermore. Burrowing engineers are an important group in ecosystem engineers as they play a critical role in soil translocation and habitat creation in various types of environment.However, few researchers have systematically summarized and analyzed the studies of burrowing engineers. We reviewing the existing ecological studies of burrowing engineer about their interaction with habitat through five directions: (1) soil turnover; (2)changing soil physicochemical properties; (3) changing plant community structure; (4) providing limited resources for commensal animals;and/or (5) affecting animal communities. The Chinese pangolin (Manis pentadactyla) is a typical example of burrowing mammals, in part (5), we focus on the interspecific relationships among burrow commensal species of Chinese pangolin. The engineering effects vary with environmental gradient, literature indicates that burrowing engineer play a stronger role in habitat transformation in the tropical and subtropical areas.The most common experiment method is comparative measurements (include different spatial and temporal scale),manipulative experiment is relatively few. We found that most of the engineering effects had positive feedback to the local ecosystem, increased plant abundance and resilience, increased biodiversity and consequently improved ecosystem functioning. With the global background of dramatic climate change and biodiversity loss in recent decades, we recommend future studies should improving knowledge of long-term engineering effects on population scale and landscape scale, exploring ecological cascades through trophic and engineering pathways, to better understand the attribute of the burrowing behavior of engineers to restore ecosystems and habitat creation. The review is presented as an aid to systematically expound the engineering effect of burrowing animals in the ecosystem, and provided new ideas and advice for planning and implementing conservation management.

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“…Moreover, rodents are important keystone members and engineers of ecosystems (e.g., Legagneux et al 2012). They control prey and predator species abundances, aerate and increase groundwater recharge through soil turbation, aid in decomposition and nutrient cycling, control plant productivity and species richness and composition, promote ecological succession, and provide habitats for other species, among other things (e.g., Ballová et al 2019;Prugh and Brashares 2012;Tschumi et al 2018;Zhang et al 2003). Hence, no mammalian order is more important for regulating and understanding biospheric activity than Rodentia.…”

Section: Why Rodents?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Assessing molar wear in narrow-headed voles as a proxy for diet and habitat in a changing Arctic

et al. 2020

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This paper investigates the potential of mesoscale tooth wear (mesowear, chipping, facets, and other wear attributes) in rodents as a proxy for Arctic habitat. It presents a pilot study of narrow-headed voles, Microtus gregalis, at three sites along a latitudinal gradient of ecological subzones in the Yamal Peninsula of the Russian Arctic. These sites include Kharp in the forest-tundra ecotone, Erkuta in the low Arctic, and Sabetta at the border between the low and the high Arctic. A total of 117 specimens were included and eight variables were used to characterize mesoscale tooth wear. Results show significant differences between the sites, suggesting that these variables can distinguish populations from different subzones. Kharp has the flattest tooth wear, whereas Sabetta has the most M1 occlusal relief and dentin exposure. These results are consistent with and interpreted in the light of published experimental work on captive voles. In addition, the Kharp sample has the tallest M1 crowns, whereas Sabetta has the most vertically implanted M1s. The general directional trends toward separation of values by latitude of samples suggests that mesoscale wear in hypselodont rodents (those with open-rooted, ever-growing molar teeth) reflects variation in food abrasivity and, by extension, may be valuable for tracking habitat and ecological changes in the Arctic. Keywords Rodents • Teeth • Climate change • Habitat assessment Why mesoscale wear?Many mesoscale tooth wear studies have focused on dental mesowear. This technique was developed originally two Handling editor: Eva Bärmann.

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How much do ecosystem engineers contribute to landscape evolution? A case study on Tatra marmots

Cited by 18 publications

References 53 publications

Area-Wide Prediction of Vertebrate and Invertebrate Hole Density and Depth across a Climate Gradient in Chile Based on UAV and Machine Learning

Area-Wide Prediction of Vertebrate and Invertebrate Hole Density and Depth across a Climate Gradient in Chile Based on UAV and Machine Learning

A Review of the Engineering Role of Burrowing Animals: Implication of Chinese Pangolin as an Ecosystem Engineer

Assessing molar wear in narrow-headed voles as a proxy for diet and habitat in a changing Arctic

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