Clive G. Jones
Institute of Ecosystem Studies

Many organisms build, modify or destroy physical structures in the environment. For example, both beavers and the Army Corps of Engineers build dams. Beaver dams and many other physical structures have important ecological effects on other species because these structures create habitat and control the amount of resources that other species can use. Rock-eating snails in the Negev Desert control the amount of soil for plants. Desert Isopods control soil erosion and remove salts that decrease soil fertility for plants. Desert porcupines dig pits that trap water and seeds, making an ideal place for annual plants to grow. There are hundreds of other examples of organisms modifying the environment in all sorts of ecosystems. And yet, in general we know far less about these engineers and their ecological effects than we know about the effects of predation or competition for resources among organisms. How and why do engineers have effects? How important are these effects? How similar are different engineers? How can we quantify, compare and model engineering effects? Our research involves empirical studies on the effects of engineers, the development of concepts and models of ecosystem engineering and syntheses of the existing literature. Research in this area is helping us understand how species -- including human engineers -- can affect the abundance and diversity of species and the functioning of ecosystems.

Selected Projects

• Beaver as Engineers. Justin Wright, Alex Flecker and I have been studying the impact of beaver-created meadows and swamps on the diversity of riparian plant species at patch and landscape scales in the Adirondacks, NY. In collaboration with William Gurney a model has been developed that couples beaver population dynamics with the patch dynamics of the habitats they create. This model is being integrated with estimators of species richness so that we can examine how plant biodiversity of a landscape could change as beaver populations rise and fall. Justin, Alex Flecker and I are also reviewing literature on the effects of engineers on patch-scale richness and developing models to predict the effect of engineers on species richness in different ecosystems.

• Negev Engineers. Studies in the Negev Desert, Israel, with Moshe Shachak, Bert Boeken, Andy Wilby and Justin Wright are comparing the effects of different species of hydrological engineers -- soil crust communities of microorganisms that generate runoff water, pits dug by porcupines that trap the runoff, mounds built by ants or shrubs that trap the runoff -- on the diversity and productivity of annual plants. We are also determining how the effects of these engineers on annual plant diversity changes with spatial scale and rainfall.

• Shelled Organisms as Engineers. Jorge Gutiérrez, David Strayer, Oscar Iribarne and I are reviewing the effects of shelled organisms (e.g., oysters, mussels, clams) to ascertain the general engineering properties of molluscs in different ecosystems at scales from the individual shell to whole beds and reefs.

Listed Project Collaborators

Dr. Bertrand Boeken, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel
Dr. Alexander Flecker, Cornell University, New York
Dr. W. Gurney, University of Strathclyde, Scotland
Mr. Jorge Gutiérrez, Graduate Student, Universidad Mar del Plata, Argentina
Dr. Oscar Iribarne, Universidad Mar del Plata, Argentina
Dr. Moshe Shachak, IES Adjunct Scientist, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel
Dr. David Strayer, IES, New York
Dr. Andrew Wilby, NERC Centre for Population Biology and CABI Bioscience, Silwood Park, UK
Dr. Justin Wright, IES and Cornell University, New York

Selected Publications

• Wright, J. P., and C. G. Jones. 2006. The concept of organisms as ecosystem engineers ten years on: Progress, limitations, and challenges. BioScience 56(3):203-209
• Gutiérrez, J. L., and C. G. Jones. 2006. Physical ecosystem engineers as agents of biogeochemical heterogeneity. BioScience 56(3):227-236
• Wright, J. P., Jones, C. G. and Flecker, A. S. 2002. An ecosystem engineer, the beaver, increases species richness at the landscape scale. Oecologia (In Press).
• Pickett, S. T. A. P, Cadenasso, M. L. and Jones, C. G. 2000. Generation of heterogeneity by organisms: creation, maintenance, and transformation. pp. 33-52 In: In Hutchings, M. J. , John, E. A., and Stewart, A. J. A. (eds.). The Ecological Consequences of Environmental Heterogeneity: The 40^th symposium of the British Ecological Society. Blackwell Science, Oxford.
• Groffman, P. M. and Jones, C. G. 2000. Soil processes and global change: will invertebrates make a difference? pp. 313-326 In: Coleman, D. C. and Hendrix, P. F. (eds.). Invertebrates as Webmasters in Ecosystems. CAB International, New York.
• Jones, C. G., Lawton, J. H. and Shachak, M. 1997. Positive and negative effects of organisms as physical ecosystem engineers. Ecology 78: 1946-1957.
• Jones, C. G., Lawton, J. H. and Shachak, M. 1997. Ecosystem engineering by organisms: why semantics matters. Trends Ecol. Evoln. 12: 275.
• Jones, C. G., Lawton, J. H., and Shachak, M. 1996. Organisms as ecosystem engineers. pp.130-147 In: Samson, F. B. and Knopf, F. L. (eds.). Readings in Ecosystem Management. Springer-Verlag, New York. (Reprinted from Jones, C. G., Lawton, J. H., and Shachak, M. 1994. Organisms as Ecosystem Engineers. Oikos 69: 373-386).
• Jones, C. G. 1996. Ecosystem engineering by vertebrates: a review of Butler, D. R. 1995. Zoogeomorphology: Animals as Geomorphic Agents. Cambridge University Press. 231pp. Ecology 77: 653-654.
• Jones, C. G. and Lawton, J. H. (eds.). 1995. Linking Species and Ecosystems. Chapman and Hall, New York.
• Lawton, J. H. and Jones, C. G. 1995. Linking species and ecosystems: organisms as ecosystem engineers. pp. 141-150 In: Jones, C. G. and Lawton, J. H. (eds.). Linking Species and Ecosystems. Chapman and Hall, New York.
• Shachak, M. and Jones, C. G. 1995. Ecological flow chains and ecological systems: concepts for linking species and ecosystem perspectives. pp. 280-294 In: Jones, C. G. and Lawton, J. H. (eds.). Linking Species and Ecosystems. Chapman and Hall, New York.
• Shachak, M., Jones, C. G. and Brand, S. 1995. The role of animals in an arid ecosystem: snails and isopods as controllers of soil formation, erosion and desalinization. Adv. in GeoEcol. 28: 37-50.
• Jones, C. G., Lawton, J. H. and Shachak, M. 1994. Organisms as ecosystem engineers. Oikos 69: 373-386.
• Jones C. G., and Shachak, M. 1994. Desert Snails' Daily Grind. Natural History 103(8): 56-61.
• Lawton, J. H. and Jones, C. G. 1993. Linking species and ecosystems. Trends Ecol. Evoln. 8: 311-313.
• Bianchi, T. S. and Jones, C. G. 1991. Density-dependent positive feedbacks between consumers and their resources. pp. 331-340 In: Cole, J. J., Lovett, G. M. and Findlay, S. E. G.(eds.). Comparative Analyses of Ecosystems: Patterns, Mechanisms, and Theories. Springer-Verlag, NY.
• Jones, C. G. and Shachak, M. 1990. Fertilization of the desert soil by rock-eating snails. Nature 346: 839-841.
• Bianchi, T. S., Jones, C. G. and Shachak, M. 1989. The positive feedback of consumer population density on resource supply. Trends Ecol. Evol. 4: 234-238.
• Shachak, M., Jones, C. G. and Granot, Y. 1987. Herbivory in rocks and the weathering of a desert. Science 236: 1098-1099.

Scientific Correspondence

• Sparrow, A. D. 1999. A heterogeneity of heterogeneities. Trends Ecol. Evoln. 14: 422-423 (on: Pickett, S. T. A., Cadenasso, M., and Jones, C. G. 1999. Heterogeneity in terrestrial habitats: creation, maintenance, and transformation by organisms. Ecological Consequences of Environmental Heterogeneity, BES Annual Symposium. University of Sussex, UK).
• Power, M.E. 1997. Estimating impacts of a dominant detritivore in a neotropical stream. Trends Ecol. Evoln. 12, 47-49 (on Jones, C. G., Lawton, J. H. and Shachak, M. 1994. Organisms as ecosystem engineers. Oikos 69: 373-386).
• Jones, C. G., Lawton, J. H. and Shachak, M. 1997. Ecosystem engineering by organisms: why semantics matters. Trends Ecol. Evoln. 12: 275.
• Power, M. E. 1997. Ecosystem engineering by organisms: why semantics matters, reply. Trends Ecol. Evoln. 12: 276 (in response to: Jones, C. G., Lawton, J. H. and Shachak, M. 1997. Ecosystem engineering by organisms: why semantics matters. Trends Ecol. Evoln. 12: 275).

Selected Related Publication

• Jones, C. G. and Lawton, J. H. (eds.). 1995. Linking Species and Ecosystems. Chapman and Hall, New York.

Selected General Publications

• Cadwallader, J. 2001. Ecosystem engineers modify the mudflats. Institute of Ecosystem Studies Newsletter 18 (4), July-August 2001: 1, 3 (on shelled organisms as ecosystem engineers research with J. Gutiérrez and D. Strayer.
• Likens, G. E. 2001. Ecosystems: Energetics and biogeochemistry. pp 53-88. In. Kress, W. J.and Barrett, G. W. (eds.). A New Century of Biology. Smithsonian Institute Press, Washington (includes work on ecosystem engineering).
• Cadwallader, J. 2000. Beavers as engineers. Institute of Ecosystem Studies Newsletter 17(3), May-June 2000: p.1, 3 (on: beaver ecosystem engineering research by Wright, Jones and Flecker).
• Karasov, C. 2000. To understand the desert: The deserts tiny engineers. Learning to Live with the Desert, Jewish National Fund, Jerusalem (on rock-eating snails).
• Lawton, J. H. 2000. Community Ecology in a Changing World. Excellence in Ecology 11. Ecology Institute, Oldenorf/Luh, Germany (includes ecosystem engineering).
• Alper, J. 1998. Ecosystem engineers shape habitat for other species. Science 280: 1195-1196 (on: Jones, C. G., Lawton, J. H. and Shachak, M. 1997. Positive and negative effects of organisms as physical ecosystem engineers. Ecology 78: 1946-1957).
• Baskin, Y. 1997. The Work of Nature: How the Diversity of Life Sustains Us. Island Press, Washington, D.C. (on: ecosystem engineering, rock-eating snails).
• Baskin, Y. 1997. The work of nature. Natural History 106(1): 48-52 (on ecosystem engineers, rock-eating snails).
• McGrayne, S. B. 1997. Blue Genes and Polyester Plants: 365 More Surprising Scientific Facts, Breakthroughs and Discoveries. John Wiley and Sons, NY (on: rock-eating snails).
• Power, M.E. 1997. Estimating impacts of a dominant detritivore in a neotropical stream. Trends Ecol. Evoln. 12, 47-49 (on engineering and Jones, C. G., Lawton, J. H. and Shachak, M. 1994. Organisms as ecosystem engineers. Oikos 69: 373-386).
• Brown, J. H. 1995. Organisms as engineers: a useful framework for studying effects on ecosystems? Trends Ecol. Evoln. 10: 51-52 (on: Jones, C. G., Lawton, J. H. and Shachak, M. 1994. Organisms as ecosystem engineers. Oikos 69: 373-386).

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