Ecosystem engineers are organisms characterized by significantly modifying their habitat. Some examples of these ecosystem engineers are invasive species, such as Spartina alterniflora cordgrass or the zebra mussel Dreissena polymorpha. In some cases, the effect of modifying the environment can be non-local, affecting other regions farther away from the region populated by the ecosystem engineer.
In this context, we are interested in understanding how these populations can disperse through their environment. We want to answer questions such as: Which conditions promote the invasibility of ecosystem engineers from one patch to another? and, is there any possible control strategy that can be applied to these populations to avoid invasion?
To do this we have developed an extension of the ecosystem engineer population model of Cuddington et al (2009). Asymptotic analysis is then performed on this model to understand the relation between migration and engineering, both local and regional.
Results/Conclusions
In this poster we present the main results of this analysis, where we focus on conditions for spread of an ecosystem engineer. In Cuddington et al (2009) it was identified that locally, this population behaves similar to an Allee effect with a time lag. Here we find that this behavior is extended to the regional level. Spread between patches is not possible if both dispersal and the engineering effect are low enough. If either process is strong enough, then spread is possible. These results suggest that control of spread of invasive engineers could focus on either reducing dispersal or counteracting the engineering effect.