A global database and ‘state of the field’ review of research into ecosystem engineering by land animals.

1. Ecosystem engineers have been widely studied for terrestrial systems, but global trends in research encompassing the range of taxa and functions have not previously been synthesised. 2. We synthesised contemporary understanding of engineer fauna in terrestrial habitats and assessed the methods used to document patterns and processes, asking: 1.Which species act as ecosystem engineers and with whom do they interact? 2. What are the impacts of ecosystem engineers in terrestrial habitats and how are they distributed? 3. What are the primary methods used to examine engineer effects and how have these developed over time? We considered the strengths, weaknesses and gaps in knowledge related to each of these questions, and suggested a conceptual framework to delineate ‘significant impacts’ of engineering interactions for all terrestrial animals. 3. We collected peer-reviewed publications examining ecosystem engineer impacts and created a database of engineer species to assess experimental ...1. 生态系统工程师（ecosystem engineer）在陆地生态系统中已得到广泛研究，但此前尚未有研究对涵盖各类群与功能的全球研究趋势进行综合梳理。2. 本研究综合了当前学界对陆地生境中动物类生态系统工程师的认知，并对用于记录其分布格局与生态过程的研究方法进行了评估，提出以下三个研究问题：1. 哪些物种可作为生态系统工程师，它们与哪些生物存在交互作用？2. 陆地生境中的生态系统工程师会产生哪些生态影响，其影响的分布格局如何？3. 用于探究工程师效应的核心研究方法有哪些，这些方法随时间推移经历了怎样的发展历程？本研究针对上述每个问题梳理了现有认知的优势、局限与知识缺口，并提出一套概念框架，用于界定所有陆地动物的工程交互作用的"显著影响"。3. 本研究收集了探究生态系统工程师影响的同行评议期刊论文，并构建了工程师物种数据库，以开展实验性评估……