干旱区生态环境知识资源中心(Arid): Testing for consistency in the impacts of a burrowing ecosystem engineer on soil and vegetation characteristics across biomes

Arid

DOI	10.1038/s41598-019-55917-x
	Testing for consistency in the impacts of a burrowing ecosystem engineer on soil and vegetation characteristics across biomes
	Louw, M. A.1,3,4; Haussmann, N. S.2; le Roux, P. C.1
通讯作者	Louw, M. A.
来源期刊	SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
ISSN	2045-2322
出版年	2019
卷号	9
英文摘要	The impacts of ecosystem engineers may be expected to vary along environmental gradients. Due to some resources being more limited in arid than in mesic environments, disturbances created by burrowing mammals are expected to have a greater ameliorating effect in arid environments, with larger differences in microhabitat conditions expected between burrows and undisturbed areas. The aim of this study was to test if the impacts of a medium-sized burrowing mammal, the aardvark, on soil properties (soil temperature, moisture and compaction) and vegetation characteristics (plant cover, species richness and species composition) are consistent across three biomes that differ strongly in annual rainfall. Burrowing affected soil and vegetation attributes, but the direction and magnitude of these biogeomorphological impacts were not consistent across the different biomes. For example, plant species composition was altered by burrowing in the arid scrubland and in the mesic grassland, but not in the semi-arid savannah. Contrary to expectations, the difference in the impacts of burrowing between biomes were not related to rainfall, with burrowing having strong, albeit different, impacts in both the arid scrubland and the mesic grassland, but weaker effects in the semi-arid savannah. It appears, therefore, that the impacts of these biogeomorphic agents may be site-specific and that it may be difficult to predict variation in their biotic and abiotic effects across environmental gradients. As a result, forecasting the impacts of ecosystem engineers under different conditions remains a challenge to management, restoration and conservation strategies related to these types of species.
类型	Article
语种	英语
国家	South Africa
开放获取类型	Green Published, gold
收录类别	SCI-E
WOS记录号	WOS:000507588000005
WOS关键词	SPECIES RICHNESS ; ENVIRONMENTAL GRADIENTS ; PLANT DIVERSITY ; POCKET GOPHERS ; DISTURBANCES ; HETEROGENEITY ; ORGANISMS ; INCREASES ; MAMMALS ; DESERT
WOS类目	Multidisciplinary Sciences
WOS研究方向	Science & Technology - Other Topics
EI主题词	2019-12-18
资源类型	期刊论文
条目标识符	http://119.78.100.177/qdio/handle/2XILL650/311842
作者单位	1.Univ Pretoria, Dept Plant & Soil Sci, Private Bag X20, ZA-0028 Hatfield, South Africa; 2.Univ Pretoria, Dept Geog Geoinformat & Meteorol, Private Bag X20, ZA-0028 Hatfield, South Africa; 3.Univ Cape Town, Dept Biol Sci, Private Bag X3, ZA-7701 Rondebosch, South Africa; 4.Univ Cape Town, Dept Stat Sci, Ctr Stat Ecol Environm & Conservat, Private Bag X3, ZA-7701 Rondebosch, South Africa
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Louw, M. A.,Haussmann, N. S.,le Roux, P. C.. Testing for consistency in the impacts of a burrowing ecosystem engineer on soil and vegetation characteristics across biomes[J],2019,9.
APA	Louw, M. A.,Haussmann, N. S.,&le Roux, P. C..(2019).Testing for consistency in the impacts of a burrowing ecosystem engineer on soil and vegetation characteristics across biomes.SCIENTIFIC REPORTS,9.
MLA	Louw, M. A.,et al."Testing for consistency in the impacts of a burrowing ecosystem engineer on soil and vegetation characteristics across biomes".SCIENTIFIC REPORTS 9(2019).