Journal article

Publication year: 2006

Pages: 153-164

Journal: Applied Soil Ecology

Volume number: 32

Issue number: 2

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2005.07.004

Publisher: Elsevier

Abstract: 

Termites, ants and earthworms are
considered as soil engineers because of their effects on soil properties
and their influence on the availability of resources for other
organisms, including microorganisms and plants. However, the links
between their impacts on the soil environment and the resulting
modification of natural selection pressures on engineer as well as on
other organisms have received little attention.

We suggest that
the strategy evolved by species, or functional groups to control their
environment can explain the difference between extended phenotype and
accidental engineers. Extended phenotype engineers concentrate their
activities on the building of biogenic structures in order to maintain
optimal conditions for their growth. Conversely, accidental engineers
expend energy in moving through the soil to be as close as possible to
their optimal environment. We discuss in this paper why termites and
ants are best viewed as extended phenotype engineers, and particularly
how their impacts on ecosystem functioning can be considered as results
of their requirements and how their activities could induce feedback
loops affecting themselves. We also focus on the engineering activities
of earthworms and discuss why some species can be considered as extended
phenotype while others are more accidental engineers.

Finally, we
discuss links between the strategies developed by engineers and
ecosystem functioning. Although both types of engineer create
“hot-spots” in soil, we argue that extended phenotype engineers have a
greater effect on the maintenance of ecosystem heterogeneity since they
concentrate their activities at a few points, as compared to accidental
engineers which may move through the soil and thus contribute to
homogenisation of nutrient distribution throughout the whole ecosystem.

Harvard Citation style: Jouquet, P., Dauber, J., Lagerlöf, J., Lavelle, P. and Lepage, M. (2006) Soil invertebrates as ecosystem engineers: Intended and accidental effects on soil and feedback loops, Applied Soil Ecology, 32(2), pp. 153-164. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2005.07.004

APA Citation style: Jouquet, P., Dauber, J., Lagerlöf, J., Lavelle, P., & Lepage, M. (2006). Soil invertebrates as ecosystem engineers: Intended and accidental effects on soil and feedback loops. Applied Soil Ecology. 32(2), 153-164. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsoil.2005.07.004