Ecologgers: I am stumped with my literature searches to unearth papers on the response of ecosystem engineers (richness and abundance) to metrics of habitat heterogeneity. In particular, I am interested in defining habitat heterogeneity with regards to spatial landscape metrics of habitat composition and configuration, and structural complexity.
I realize that by their very definition, ecosystem engineers create and maintain the complex habitats that other species depend upon. However, I am interested in references that investigate how important habitat heterogeneity is to the foundation species themselves? I work in coral communities myself but am interested in analogous multi-species assemblages from the terrestrial world of habitat engineers/foundation species (i.e. forest tree communities; grassland communities). Any leads to work assessing the influence of configuration or composition of habitat patches on foundation species/engineers would be appreciated! Thank you, Brittany Brittany Huntington Division of Marine Biology and Fisheries Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science University of Miami 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway Miami, FL 33149
