Life after death: legacies of dead foundation species shape demographic processes

Ecosystems carry memory, and that memory is recorded not only in climate and genetics, but also in the material remains of the dead.Foundation species-trees, grasses, corals, oysters-are central to ecosystem structure while alive, and their remains continue to influence ecological processes after death.Leveraging the U.S. Long Term Ecological Research Network, we conducted the first continental-scale exploration of how material legacies influence living foundation species across 10 ecosystems (half terrestrial, half marine).We show that material legacies consistently alter demographic processes, ranging from a 50% reduction to a 12-fold increase.The ubiquity of these postmortem influences reveal an underappreciated dimension of ecological memory that is critical in shaping pathways of community assembly, and ultimately the structures of ecological systems in an era of accelerating mortality.

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Published
2025-09-02
DOI
https://doi.org/10.22541/au.175683851.18825954/v1
Primary Topic
Environmental and Biological Research in Conflict Zones
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Life after death: legacies of dead foundation species shape demographic processes

Steven C. Pennings, David M. Bell, Ty Tuff, Christopher J. Nytch et al.
Environmental and Biological Research in Conflict Zones
article

Life after death: legacies of dead foundation species shape demographic processes

Steven C. Pennings, David M. Bell, Ty Tuff, Christopher J. Nytch, Audrey Barker Plotkin, Jill F. Johnstone, Max C. N. Castorani, Jesse B. Nippert, John S. Kominoski, Katharine N. Suding, Kai L. Kopecky, Debra B. Reed
article en

Abstract

Ecosystems carry memory, and that memory is recorded not only in climate and genetics, but also in the material remains of the dead.Foundation species-trees, grasses, corals, oysters-are central to ecosystem structure while alive, and their remains continue to influence ecological processes after death.Leveraging the U.S. Long Term Ecological Research Network, we conducted the first continental-scale exploration of how material legacies influence living foundation species across 10 ecosystems (half terrestrial, half marine).We show that material legacies consistently alter demographic processes, ranging from a 50% reduction to a 12-fold increase.The ubiquity of these postmortem influences reveal an underappreciated dimension of ecological memory that is critical in shaping pathways of community assembly, and ultimately the structures of ecological systems in an era of accelerating mortality.

Harvard University (US), University of Alaska Fairbanks (US), Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (US), University of Puerto Rico at Río Piedras (PR), University of Colorado Boulder (US), Kansas State University (US), Florida International University (US), Pacific Northwest Research Station (US), University of Houston (US), University of Virginia (US)
National Science Foundation, U.S. Department of Agriculture, U.S. Forest Service, Pacific Northwest Research Station
Openalex Percentile: Top 68%
Environmental and Biological Research in Conflict Zones
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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