Impacts of ecosystem engineers on community attributes: effects of cushion plants at different elevations of the Chilean Andes

Ecosystem engineers are organisms able to modulate environmental forces and, hence, may change the habitat conditions for other species. In so doing, ecosystem engineers may affect both species richness and evenness of communities and, in consequence, change species diversity. If these changes in co...

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Main Authors: Badano, Ernesto I., Cavieres, Lohengrin A.
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: BLACKWELL 2006
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.captura.uchile.cl/handle/2250/2647
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record_format openpolar
spelling ftunivchilecap:oai:www.captura.uchile.cl:2250/2647 2023-05-15T18:19:45+02:00 Impacts of ecosystem engineers on community attributes: effects of cushion plants at different elevations of the Chilean Andes Badano, Ernesto I. Cavieres, Lohengrin A. 2006-07 http://www.captura.uchile.cl/handle/2250/2647 en eng BLACKWELL SPECIES RICHNESS AZORELLA-COMPACTA PATAGONIAN ANDES LARETIA-ACAULIS SILENE-ACAULIS DIVERSITY VEGETATION SCALE ASSOCIATIONS UMBELLIFERAE Artículo de Revista 2006 ftunivchilecap 2013-12-20T10:20:02Z Ecosystem engineers are organisms able to modulate environmental forces and, hence, may change the habitat conditions for other species. In so doing, ecosystem engineers may affect both species richness and evenness of communities and, in consequence, change species diversity. If these changes in community attributes are related to the magnitude of the habitat changes induced by the engineers, it seems likely that engineer species will have greater effects on diversity in sites where they cause larger habitat changes. We addressed this issue by evaluating the effects of three alpine cushion plants on species richness, evenness, and diversity of high-Andean plant communities. Given that the difference in microclimatic conditions between cushions and the external environment increases with elevation, we proposed that these organisms should have greater effects on community attributes at higher than at lower elevation sites. Results showed that the three cushion species had positive effects on species richness, diversity, and evenness of plant communities. It was also observed that the magnitude of these effects changed with elevation: positive effects on species richness and diversity increased towards upper sites for the three cushions species, whereas positive effects on evenness increased with elevation for one cushion species but decreased with elevation for other two cushion species. These results suggest that the presence of cushions is important to maintain plant diversity in high-Andean communities, but this positive effect on diversity seems to increase as the difference in environmental conditions between cushions and the external environment increases with elevation. Article in Journal/Newspaper Silene acaulis Universidad de Chile: Captura
institution Open Polar
collection Universidad de Chile: Captura
op_collection_id ftunivchilecap
language English
topic SPECIES RICHNESS
AZORELLA-COMPACTA
PATAGONIAN ANDES
LARETIA-ACAULIS
SILENE-ACAULIS
DIVERSITY
VEGETATION
SCALE
ASSOCIATIONS
UMBELLIFERAE
spellingShingle SPECIES RICHNESS
AZORELLA-COMPACTA
PATAGONIAN ANDES
LARETIA-ACAULIS
SILENE-ACAULIS
DIVERSITY
VEGETATION
SCALE
ASSOCIATIONS
UMBELLIFERAE
Badano, Ernesto I.
Cavieres, Lohengrin A.
Impacts of ecosystem engineers on community attributes: effects of cushion plants at different elevations of the Chilean Andes
topic_facet SPECIES RICHNESS
AZORELLA-COMPACTA
PATAGONIAN ANDES
LARETIA-ACAULIS
SILENE-ACAULIS
DIVERSITY
VEGETATION
SCALE
ASSOCIATIONS
UMBELLIFERAE
description Ecosystem engineers are organisms able to modulate environmental forces and, hence, may change the habitat conditions for other species. In so doing, ecosystem engineers may affect both species richness and evenness of communities and, in consequence, change species diversity. If these changes in community attributes are related to the magnitude of the habitat changes induced by the engineers, it seems likely that engineer species will have greater effects on diversity in sites where they cause larger habitat changes. We addressed this issue by evaluating the effects of three alpine cushion plants on species richness, evenness, and diversity of high-Andean plant communities. Given that the difference in microclimatic conditions between cushions and the external environment increases with elevation, we proposed that these organisms should have greater effects on community attributes at higher than at lower elevation sites. Results showed that the three cushion species had positive effects on species richness, diversity, and evenness of plant communities. It was also observed that the magnitude of these effects changed with elevation: positive effects on species richness and diversity increased towards upper sites for the three cushions species, whereas positive effects on evenness increased with elevation for one cushion species but decreased with elevation for other two cushion species. These results suggest that the presence of cushions is important to maintain plant diversity in high-Andean communities, but this positive effect on diversity seems to increase as the difference in environmental conditions between cushions and the external environment increases with elevation.
format Article in Journal/Newspaper
author Badano, Ernesto I.
Cavieres, Lohengrin A.
author_facet Badano, Ernesto I.
Cavieres, Lohengrin A.
author_sort Badano, Ernesto I.
title Impacts of ecosystem engineers on community attributes: effects of cushion plants at different elevations of the Chilean Andes
title_short Impacts of ecosystem engineers on community attributes: effects of cushion plants at different elevations of the Chilean Andes
title_full Impacts of ecosystem engineers on community attributes: effects of cushion plants at different elevations of the Chilean Andes
title_fullStr Impacts of ecosystem engineers on community attributes: effects of cushion plants at different elevations of the Chilean Andes
title_full_unstemmed Impacts of ecosystem engineers on community attributes: effects of cushion plants at different elevations of the Chilean Andes
title_sort impacts of ecosystem engineers on community attributes: effects of cushion plants at different elevations of the chilean andes
publisher BLACKWELL
publishDate 2006
url http://www.captura.uchile.cl/handle/2250/2647
genre Silene acaulis
genre_facet Silene acaulis
_version_ 1766196970392649728