Abstract
This entry focuses on two ecological phenomena. The first is “keystone species” which is defined by Paine 1 as a species (mostly of high trophic status) whose activities exert a disproportionate influence on the patterns of species occurrence, distribution, and density in a community. The second is the concept of “ecosystem engineers” defined by Jones et al. [2 as organisms that directly or indirectly modulate the availability of resources (other than themselves) to other species by causing physical state changes in biotic or abiotic materials.
This chapter was originally published as part of the Encyclopedia of Sustainability Science and Technology edited by Robert A. Meyers. DOI:10.1007/978-1-4419-0851-3
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Abbreviations
- Connectance:
-
The proportion of possible ecological interaction links between species that are realized.
- Ecosystem engineer:
-
An organism that creates or modifies its habitat [19].
- Ecosystem functioning:
-
The way ecosystems work related to abiotic and biotic components, such as chemicals, water, soil, microbes, plants, and animals.
- Keystone species:
-
A species that has a disproportionate effect on its environment relative to its biomass (Paine 1995).
- Trophic level:
-
The position a species occupies in a food chain.
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de Visser, S., Thébault, E., de Ruiter, P.C. (2013). Ecosystem Engineers, Keystone Species. In: Leemans, R. (eds) Ecological Systems. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5755-8_4
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