Ecosystem engineers.

JORGE LUIS CEFERINO GUTIÉRREZ; JONES, C. G.

Encyclopedia of Life Sciences.

John Wiley and Sons

Lugar: Chichester, Reino Unido; Año: 2008; p. 1 - 6

Ecosystem engineers, or more precisely physical ecosystem engineers, are organisms that change the abiotic environment by physically altering structure. As a consequence they often, but not invariably, have effects on other biota and their interactions, and on ecosystem processes. The physical ecosystem engineering concept interconnects a number of important ecological and evolutionary concepts and is particularly relevant to environmental management.