<p>Ecosystem engineers play a fundamental role in the creation, maintenance and transformation of habitats in tidal flats. Highly diverse in terms of size, phylogeny, and effect on their environment, they can facilitate or hinder a number of organisms, but generally have a positive influence on both the abundance and the diversity of mudflat organisms. The magnitude of the engineering effect is, however, largely dependent on the biotic and abiotic environment of the engineer. In particular, stressful habitats such as mudflats host a large number of ecosystem engineers; understanding interactions between them, and how they vary with abiotic variables, is therefore of crucial importance, to evaluate how ecosystem engineers affect benthic communities and ecosystem functioning. Such understanding will also help human populations which benefit from mudflat organisms and/or functioning (i.e. which derive ecosystem services from them), to maintain and manage the sustainably of tidal flats, in a way which maintains human health and well-being.</p>
Année de publication
2018
Titre secondaire
Mudflat Ecology
Nombre de pages
243–269
DOI
10.1007/978-3-319-99194-8_10
URL
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99194-8_10
Numéro ISBN
978-3-319-99194-8
Catégorie HCERES
Publication coopération et recherche SUD
Non
Résumé
Éditeur
Springer International Publishing
Lieu de publication
Cham