Model studies of ecosystem engineers in plant communities

This chapter presents a synthetic review of the various studies emphasizing aspects of ecosystem engineering. The chapter discusses the spatially explicit dynamic model for plant communities in drylands and explains how it captures the various biomass-water feedbacks. It also describes the model to a single life-form, studying conditions under which it functions as an ecosystem engineer by concentrating the water resource. Considering next the version of the model for two life-forms, the chapter also presents the study the response of herbaceous life-forms to the engineering of woody life forms at different levels of patch organization. It concludes with a few remarks on the significance of detailed modeling of biomass-water feedbacks for studying ecosystem engineering, and with a note on future directions.