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ECOLOGY

Login Ecosystem Engineers About Ecology

Andrew H. Altieri Meet the Editorial Board

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LAST REVIEWED: 19 MAY 2015
Password LAST MODIFIED: 10 MARCH 2015
DOI: 10.1093/OBO/9780199830060-0134 JUMP TO OTHER ARTICLES:

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Introduction
Ecological Dynamics in
Ecosystem engineers are organisms that modify, maintain and/or create habitat. The Fragmented Landscapes
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term was originally proposed twenty years ago by Clive Jones, John Lawton, and Moshe Ecology, Microbial (Community)

Shachak in an effort to bridge the largely separate pursuits of population and ecosystem
Login with Athens/Access Ecosystem Engineers
ecology. They proposed a conceptual framework for understanding how organisms
Management Federation
modulate resources and thus have the potential to indirectly interact with other Ecosystem Services
organisms. In the relatively short history of the terms use, ecosystem engineers have
inspired tremendous interests from observational, experimental, and theoretical Ecotourism

ecologists as well as evolutionary biologists and have influenced work in all ecosystems
Elton, Charles
including marine, freshwater, and terrestrial, as well as in a diversity of living systems
from the smallest microbes to the most massive trees. Ecosystem engineer is one of Endophytes, Fungal
several related terms that came to ride a building wave of interest in how organisms can
Energy Flow
In This Article create and modify habitats. Ecosystem engineer has been adopted as one of the most
Ecosystem Engineers popular terms and has helped galvanize research on the topic by giving a common
Environments, Extreme
name to a wide variety of mechanisms by which organisms interact with the physical
Introduction environment (and thereby indirectly affect other organisms), as these interactions did
not fit into the common categories of ecological interactions that had previously driven
General Overviews
much of contemporary ecological study. Included in the earliest definition is a distinction
Journals
between autogenic engineering in which the structure of the engineering species itself
Books and Special Issues alters the environment, such as tree leaves that fall to the ground and change soil
Definitive Examples conditions, and allogenic engineering in which organisms transform habitats or
Synonyms and Related resources but are not themselves a part of the habitat, such as beavers that dam creeks
Concepts and create ponds. The term ecosystem engineer has experienced a near-exponential
Controversies growth in the number of publications and citations since its introduction. This body of

Trait-Dependent Effects work has demonstrated the power for ecosystem engineering to explain conspicuous
patterns in species abundance, diversity, and ecosystem processes which is a core
Spatial Heterogeneity
pursuits of ecology.
Environmental Gradients
Related Articles
Feedbacks
Scale-Dependent General Overviews
Ecological
Interactions and
Networks
Patterned Landscapes The term ecosystem engineer, and its underlying meaning, grew from a workshop
Ecosystem
Evolution hosted at the (Cary) Institute of Ecosystems Studies. This effort produced two early
Services works, Jones, et al. 1994 and Lawton 1994, and the follow-up paper Jones, et al. 1997.
Multiple Ecosystem
Engineers These are the defining works on the term ecosystem engineer, including definitions,
Indirect Effects
examples, limits, and some (unintentionally identified) potential pitfalls of its usage.
in Communities
Threats
Forthcomingand Restoration
Articles Alper 1998 highlights the broad appeal of the ecosystem engineering concept and
andInvasive Species indicated a welcoming path for the new term. Following the earlier papers in which the
Ecosystems
Ecological Informatics
original authors appeared to be elbowing for acceptance of the term ecosystem
Reductionism
Ecosystem Multifunctionality engineer, Hastings, et al. 2007 is an updated review that makes it evident that the
Versus Holism
Invasive Species term had found wide acceptance and application and is apparently here to stay.
Top-Down
Find more and
forthcoming However, Jones, et al. 2010 seems compelled to review some of the basics before
Bottom-Up
articles... providing a helpful organization of how to think of ecosystem engineers and their
Regulation of impact. With two exceptions, the publications listed in this overview section cover the
Communities introduction and development of the term ecosystem engineer as put forward by
Jones and colleagues. However, it should be noted that the concept that organisms
create and modify habitats was recognized before the term ecosystem engineer was
coined, as emphasized in Bruno and Bertness 2001 , and those related works are
highlighted in other sections of this bibliography such as Books and Special Issues,
Synonyms and Related Concepts, and Controversies. Although it tackles positive
interactions in general, the synthesis in Bruno, et al. 2003 is worth including here
because habitat modification is a major mechanism of facilitation, and the authors
succinctly and clearly make a case for how consideration of those interactions will
change basic concepts in ecology.
Alper, J. 1998. Ecosystem engineers shape habitats for other species.
Science 280:11951196.
DOI: 10.1126/science.280.5367.1195 E-mail Citation
A commentary that puts ecosystem engineering into simple terms with illustrative
examples, although some have been critical that the article gave the appearance that
habitat modification by organisms, rather than the term ecosystem engineer itself,
was new to science.

Bruno, J. F., and M. D. Bertness. 2001. Habitat modification and facilitation in

benthic marine communities. In Marine community ecology. Edited by M. D.
Bertness, S. D. Gaines, and M. E. Hay, 201220. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer
Associates.
E-mail Citation
These examples are derived primarily from the marine realm, as the title implies. The
authors provide a general and balanced review of how appreciation for the role that
organisms play in modifying and creating habitats arose from a body of research and
multitude of investigators that originated before, and at times in parallel to, the
introduction of the term ecosystem engineers.

Bruno, J., J. Stachowicz, and M. Bertness. 2003. Inclusion of facilitation into

ecological theory. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 18:119125.
DOI: 10.1016/S0169-5347(02)00045-9 E-mail Citation
The authors make a compelling case for how facilitation, including habitat modification
by ecosystem engineers, will revise many fundamental concepts in basic and applied
ecology.

Hastings, A., J. E. Byers, J. A. Crooks et al. 2007. Ecosystem engineering in

space and time. Ecology Letters 10:153164.
DOI: 10.1111/j.1461-0248.2006.00997.x E-mail Citation
A sophisticated but readable review that presents an updated perspective on the
multifaceted way in which ecosystem engineering is evident across levels of ecological
organization and evolutionary perspectives, and through a variety of approaches
including observational, experimental, and modeling studies that emphasize the
relevance of spatial and temporal scale.

Jones, C. G., J. L. Gutierrez, J. E. Byers, J. A. Crooks, J. G. Lambrinos, and T. S.

Talley. 2010. A framework for understanding physical ecosystem engineering
by organisms. Oikos 119:18621869.
DOI: 10.1111/j.1600-0706.2010.18782.x E-mail Citation
Presents a useful and well-organized synthesis of ecosystem engineering interactions
and the consequences for physical factors, other organisms, and the engineer itself.
However, the need to (re)define (yet again) the term ecosystem engineer seems to be
motivated by more than just the broadening use of the term; it also implies that the
authors are still on the defensive after more than fifteen years of using the term.

Jones, C. G., J. H. Lawton, and M. Shachak. 1994. Organisms as ecosystem

engineers. Oikos 69:373386.
DOI: 10.2307/3545850 E-mail Citation
This was the first paper to introduce the term ecosystem engineer and provides
diagrams and examples in an attempt to specify what effects of organisms qualify or do
not qualify as ecosystem engineering.

Jones, C. G., J. H. Lawton, and M. Shachak. 1997. Positive and negative effects
of organisms as physical ecosystem engineers. Ecology 78:19461957.
DOI: 10.1890/0012-9658(1997)078[1946:PANEOO]2.0.CO;2 E-mail Citation
This follow up to Jones, et al. 1994 hints at some early criticisms the authors had
received by providing further examples and general templates of species interactions
that qualify as ecosystem engineers, refining their initial definition (e.g., to also include
provision of living space) with the help of specific examples. Makes some general
statements about the expected significance of ecosystem engineers through the net
positive and negative interactions at various spatial and temporal scales.

Lawton, J. H. 1994. What do species do in ecosystems? Oikos 71:367374.

DOI: 10.2307/3545824 E-mail Citation
Lawtons follow up to Jones, et al. 1994 provides some specifics of how ecosystem
engineers can contribute to emergent relationships among species identity, diversity,
and ecosystem function.

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