The ephemeral resource patch concept

Abstract

Ephemeral resource patches (ERPs) – short lived resources including dung, carrion, temporary pools, rotting vegetation, decaying wood, and fungi – are found throughout every ecosystem. Their short‐lived dynamics greatly enhance ecosystem heterogeneity and have shaped the evolutionary trajectories of a wide range of organisms – from bacteria to insects and amphibians. Despite this, there has been no attempt to distinguish ERPs clearly from other resource types, to identify their shared spatiotemporal characteristics, or to articulate their broad ecological and evolutionary influences on biotic communities. Here, we define ERPs as any distinct consumable resources which (i) are homogeneous (genetically, chemically, or structurally) relative to the surrounding matrix, (ii) host a discrete multitrophic community consisting of species that cannot replicate solely in any of the surrounding matrix, and (iii) cannot maintain a balance between depletion and renewal, which in turn, prevents multiple generations of consumers/users or reaching a community equilibrium. We outline the wide range of ERPs that fit these criteria, propose 12 spatiotemporal characteristics along which ERPs can vary, and synthesise a large body of literature that relates ERP dynamics to ecological and evolutionary theory. We draw this knowledge together and present a new unifying conceptual framework that incorporates how ERPs have shaped the adaptive trajectories of organisms, the structure of ecosystems, and how they can be integrated into biodiversity management and conservation. Future research should focus on how inter‐ and intra‐resource variation occurs in nature – with a particular focus on resource × environment × genotype interactions. This will likely reveal novel adaptive strategies, aid the development of new eco‐evolutionary theory, and greatly improve our understanding of the form and function of organisms and ecosystems.

Vicuña antipredator diel movement drives spatial nutrient subsidies in a high Andean ecosystem

“…Although we attempted to determine which latrines appeared recently used based on the presence and amount of dark, fresh‐looking fecal pellets (compared to gray, desiccated fecal pellets), estimating this consistently was difficult and could be flawed due to differences in environmental factors (e.g., sun exposure in open habitats, seasonality of dung deposition) that may have influenced the rate at which fecal pellets dried out. Marking, revisiting, and resampling latrines for soil and plant nutrient content over time would shed important light on the duration of latrine biogeochemical impacts and the extent to which these hotspots are relatively stable or ephemeral over time (Butterworth et al, 2023). Furthermore, latrine nutrient inputs may leach out and diffuse into the surrounding environment over time, particularly on slopes, where precipitation may wash latrine nutrients downhill; such diffusion and subsequent visible influence on latrine‐associated vegetation was previously documented in Peru (Franklin, 1983).…”

Aggregation in an heterospecific population of blowfly larvae: social behaviour is impacted by species-specific thermal requirements and settlement order

“…From an evolutionary point of view, it means that individuals of both species must have a shared interest and benefits in cooperation. This is often the case on transient resources that are being rapidly depleted, as observed on carcasses [6,14,[57][58][59].…”

Environmental responses of fruiting fungal communities are phylogenetically structured

“…The consequences of these general assembly processes will be particularly accentuated for any organism associated with the fruiting bodies of particular fungi. For such species, resource availability will per necessity be patchy and ephemeral in space and time (Hanski 1989, O'Connell and Bolger 1997, Epps and Arnold 2019, Butterworth et al 2023) – with phylogenetic imprints potentially adding to the challenges. While many fungivores may have adopted taxon‐level generalism as a bet‐hedging strategy to safeguard against local unavailability of the fruiting bodies of particular fungal species (Põldmaa et al 2016, Koskinen et al 2022), the efficacy of such genus‐ or family‐level host specialization will vary with the strength of phylogenetic imprints on the environmental responses of fungal fruiting – on whether related fungal species resemble each other in their responses to environmental properties and phenological cues that facilitate or suppress fruiting.…”

“…How the local composition and abundance of fungal fruiting bodies affect the associated communities of other taxa is an area of vigorous research (Põldmaa et al 2016, Koskinen et al 2019, 2022). Despite their apparent ubiquity, fungal fruiting bodies will namely constitute a spatially and temporally unpredictable resource for fungivorous vertebrates and invertebrates (Butterworth et al 2023). Theoretically, unpredictable abundance of individual host species favors generalism as a bet‐hedging strategy in consumers (Hanski 1989, Poisot et al 2011).…”