Publications related to Ecosystem engineer

The microbial genomics of glacier-fed streams: adaptations to an extreme ecosystem

Glacier-fed streams are the cold, ultra-oligotrophic, and unstable streams that are fed by glacial meltwater. Despite these extreme conditions, they harbour a diverse and abundant microbial diversity that develops into biofilms, covering the boulders and s ...

EPFL2024

The cost of adaptability: resource availability constrains functional stability under pulsed disturbances

Hannes Markus Peter

Global change exposes ecosystems to changes in the frequency, magnitude, and concomitancy of disturbances, which impact the composition and functioning of these systems. Here, we experimentally evaluate the effects of salinity disturbances and eutrophicati ...

Amer Soc Microbiology2024

At what spatial scale does natural selection operate? Using multiscale frameworks to calibrate the effects of environmental factors across landscape continuums

Annie Sandrine Guillaume

Patterns in nature arise from processes interacting across a continuum of spatial scales, where new relationships emerge at each level of investigation. These patterns are nested features encompassing fine-scale local patterns, such as topography and geolo ...

EPFL2024

Winter post-droughts amplify extreme nitrate concentrations in German rivers

Jana Freiin von Freyberg

Hydrological extremes can affect nutrient export from catchments to streams, posing a threat to aquatic ecosystems. In this study, we investigated the effects of hydrological drought on nitrate concentrations in the streamflow of 182 German catchments from ...

Iop Publishing Ltd2024

From roots to canopy: Unraveling the influence of species diversity on tree water relations under warmer and drier climates

Eugénie Isabelle Mas

The worsening of drought events with rising air temperature alters tree water relations causing severe hydraulic impairments and widespread forest mortality. Mixing tree species with contrasting hydraulic traits could reduce forest vulnerability to extreme ...

EPFL2024

Optimality principles for the analysis of biological processes across scales: From enzyme kinetics to microbiome dynamics

Asli Sahin

Microorganisms are essential for life on Earth, performing key roles in numerous biological processes. Their influence extends across a wide spectrum, from human health and ecological balance to advancements in biotechnology and industrial applications. Th ...

EPFL2024

The Reef Environment Centralized InFormation System (RECIFS) : An integrated geo‐environmental database for coral reef research and conservation

Stéphane Joost, Oliver Michele Selmoni

Motivation: Host to intricate networks of marine species, coral reefs are among the most biologically diverse ecosystems on Earth. Over the past few decades, major degradations of coral reefs have been observed worldwide, which is largely attributed to the ...

2023

Ecosystem engineering by periphyton in Alpine proglacial streams

Tom Ian Battin, Davide Mancini, Marc Aguet, Adrijan Selitaj, Matteo Roncoroni

Stream periphytons are candidate ecosystem engineers in proglacial margins. Here, we quantify the extent to which they are engineers for the case of hillslope-fed tributaries in the terrace zones of proglacial margin alluvial plains. Candidate ecosystem en ...

WILEY2023

Linking Soil Structure, Hydraulic Properties, and Organic Carbon Dynamics: A Holistic Framework to Study the Impact of Climate Change and Land Management

Sara Bonetti

Climate change and unsustainable land management practices have resulted in extensive soil degradation, including alteration of soil structure (i.e., aggregate and pore size distributions), loss of soil organic carbon, and reduction of water and nutrient h ...

2023

Benthic Biofilms in Glacier-Fed Streams from Scandinavia to the Himalayas Host Distinct Bacterial Communities Compared with the Streamwater

Tom Ian Battin, Hannes Markus Peter, Susheel Bhanu Busi, Grégoire Marie Octave Edouard Michoud, Leïla Ezzat, Massimo Bourquin, Matteo Tolosano, Emmy Marie Oppliger, Jade Brandani, Paraskevi Pramateftaki, Virginia Tadei, Vincent Henri De Staercke, Tyler Joe Kohler, Michail Styllas, Stylianos Fodelianakis, Martina Andrea Schön

Microbial life in glacier-fed streams (GFSs) is dominated by benthic biofilms which fulfill critical ecosystem processes. However, it remains unclear how the bacterial communities of these biofilms assemble in stream ecosystems characterized by rapid turno ...

AMER SOC MICROBIOLOGY2022

Density currents driven by differential cooling in lakes: occurrence, dynamics and implications for littoral-pelagic exchange

Tomy Doda

Cross-shore flows exchange water laterally in lakes, with ecological implications for the ecosystem. One example is the convective circulation induced by differential cooling, also known as the thermal siphon. This lateral flow forms when the sloping sides ...

EPFL2022

Glacier shrinkage will accelerate downstream decomposition of organic matter and alters microbiome structure and function

Tom Ian Battin, Hannes Markus Peter, Susheel Bhanu Busi, Grégoire Marie Octave Edouard Michoud, Leïla Ezzat, Massimo Bourquin, Nicola Deluigi, Matteo Tolosano, Tyler Joe Kohler, Jade Brandani, Stylianos Fodelianakis, Paraskevi Pramateftaki, Vincent Henri De Staercke, Michail Styllas, Martina Andrea Schön

The shrinking of glaciers is among the most iconic consequences of climate change. Despite this, the downstream consequences for ecosystem processes and related microbiome structure and function remain poorly understood. Here, using a space-for-time substi ...

Wiley2022

Active lithoautotrophic and methane-oxidizing microbial community in an anoxic, sub-zero, and hypersaline High Arctic spring

Ianina Altshuler

Lost Hammer Spring, located in the High Arctic of Nunavut, Canada, is one of the coldest and saltiest terrestrial springs discovered to date. It perennially discharges anoxic (

2022

A roadmap to understanding diversity and function of coral reef-associated fungi

Claudia Isabella Pogoreutz

Tropical coral reefs are hotspots of marine productivity, owing to the association of reef-building corals with endosymbiotic algae and metabolically diverse bacterial communities. However, the functional importance of fungi, well-known for their contribut ...

OXFORD UNIV PRESS2022

Increasing temperature and vapor pressure deficit lead to hydraulic damages in the absence of soil drought

Pascal Turberg, Charlotte Grossiord, Eugénie Isabelle Mas, Laura Mekarni, Philipp Schuler, Leonie Corine Schönbeck

Temperature (T) and vapor pressure deficit (VPD) are important drivers of plant hydraulic conductivity, growth, mortality, and ecosystem productivity, independently of soil water availability. Our goal was to disentangle the effects of T and VPD on plant h ...

Wiley2022

Bio-Hybrid Systems for Ecosystem Level Effects

Francesco Mondada, Robert Thomas Edmund Mills, Robert Matthew Mills, Rafael Botner Barmak, Matthieu Jean-Michel Philippe Broisin, Martina Szopek, Jean-Louis Deneubourg

In a time marked by ecological decay and by the perspective of a severe backlash of this ecosystem decay and climate devastation onto human society, bold moves that employ novel technology to counteract this decline are required. We present a novel concept ...

MIT Press2021

Modeling of Stream Metabolism from Reach-scale to the Scale of Entire River Networks

Pier Luigi Segatto

Streams are key components of the global carbon (C) cycle. The river network conceptualization moved from the pipelineâ idea, in which C is solely transported, to the active ecosystemâ concept, in which both terrestrial derived and autochthonous C ...

EPFL2021

Towards circular phosphorus: The need of inter- and transdisciplinary research to close the broken cycle

Claudia Rebeca Binder Signer, Kai Udert

Phosphorus (P) is an essential element to all living beings but also a finite resource. P-related problems center around broken P cycles from local to global scales. This paper presents outcomes from the 9th International Phosphorus Workshop (IPW9) held 20 ...

2022

Both diversity and functional composition affect productivity and water use efficiency in experimental temperate grasslands

Charlotte Grossiord, Margaux Clara Lou Didion-Gency

Many experiments have shown that biodiversity promotes ecosystem functioning and stability and that this relationship varies with resource availability. However, we still have a poor understanding of the underlying physiological and ecological mechanisms d ...

WILEY2021

Warming of lowland Polish lakes under future climate change scenarios and consequences for ice cover and mixing dynamics

Sebastiano Piccolroaz

Study region: The study region comprises 25 lowland Polish lakes in the northern part of the country. The studied lakes provide domestic, industrial and agricultural water supply, and are major attractions for tourism, thus playing a significant role in th ...

2021