Print PageEcosystem engineers often facilitate increased local diversity by altering habitat conditions, but they also shape communities through consumptive, competitive, and other non-engineering pathways. Engineering effects can lead to fundamentally different community dynamics than non-engineering effects, but the relative strengths of these interactions are seldom quantified. We combined structural equation modeling and exclosure experiments to partition the effects of a keystone engineer, the giant kangaroo rat (Dipodomys ingens), on plants, invertebrates, and vertebrates in an arid California grassland.
Results/Conclusions
We found that kangaroo rats facilitated increased diversity and abundance of other species via both engineering and non-engineering pathways. Engineering was the primary factor structuring plant and small mammal communities, whereas non-engineering effects structured invertebrate communities and increased lizard abundance. These results highlight the importance of the non-engineering effects of ecosystem engineers and shed new light on the multiple pathways by which strong-interactors shape communities.
