Ecosystem engineers physically modify their environment, thereby altering habitats for other organisms. Increasingly, “engineers” are recognized as an important focus for conservation and ecological restoration because their actions affect a range of ecosystem processes and thereby influence how ecosystems function. The Superb Lyrebird Menura novaehollandiae is proposed as an ecosystem engineer in forests of southeastern Australia due to the volume of soil and litter it turns over when foraging. We measured the seasonal and spatial patterns of foraging by Lyrebirds and the amount of soil displaced in forests in the Central Highlands, Victoria. We tested the effects of foraging on litter, soil nutrients and soil physical properties by using an experimental approach with three treatments: Lyrebird exclusion, Lyrebird exclusion with simulated foraging, and non‐exclusion reference plots. Treatments were replicated in three forest types in each of three forest blocks. Lyrebirds foraged extensively in all forest types in all seasons. On average, Lyrebirds displaced 155.7 Mg/ha of litter and soil in a 12‐month period. Greater displacement occurred where vegetation complexity (<50 cm height) was low. After two years of Lyrebird exclusion, soil compaction (top 7.5 cm) increased by 37% in exclusion plots compared with baseline measures, while in unfenced plots it decreased by 22%. Litter depth was almost three times greater in fenced than unfenced plots. Soil moisture, pH, and soil nutrients showed no difference between treatments. The enormous extent of litter and soil turned over by the Superb Lyrebird is unparalleled by any other vertebrate soil engineer in terrestrial ecosystems globally. The profound influence of such foraging activity on forest ecosystems is magnified by its year‐round pattern and widespread distribution. The disturbance regime that Lyrebirds impose has implications for diverse ecosystem processes including decomposition and nutrient cycling, the composition of litter‐ and soil‐dwelling invertebrate communities, the shaping of ground‐layer vegetation patterns, and fire behavior and post‐fire ecosystem recovery. Maintaining Lyrebird populations as a key facilitator of ecosystem function is now timely and critical as unprecedented wildfires in eastern Australia in summer 2019–2020 have severely burned ~12 million ha of forest, including ~30% of the geographic range of the Superb Lyrebird.

中文翻译：

---

鸟类生态系统工程师的觅食极大地改变了森林生态系统中的枯枝落叶和土壤层。

生态系统工程师从物理上改变了他们的环境，从而改变了其他生物的栖息地。人们越来越多地认为“工程师”是保护和生态恢复的重要重点，因为他们的行为会影响一系列的生态系统过程，从而影响生态系统的功能。精湛的琴鸟Menura novaehollandiae由于觅食时土壤和垃圾的量很大，因此建议在澳大利亚东南部森林中担任生态系统工程师。我们测量了Lyrebirds觅食的季节和空间格局以及维多利亚州中部高地森林中流离失所的土壤数量。我们使用三种处理方法通过实验方法测试了觅食对凋落物，土壤养分和土壤物理特性的影响：Lyrebird排斥，模拟觅食的Lyrebird排斥和非排斥参考图。在三个林区的每一个中，在三种林型中重复进行处理。四季鸟在所有季节的所有森林中广泛觅食。在12个月的时间里，Lyrebirds平均清除了155.7 Mg / ha的垃圾和土壤。在植被复杂度（<50 cm高）较低的地方发生了更大的位移。在Lyrebird排除两年之后，与基准测量相比，排除地块的土壤压实度（最高7.5 cm）增加了37％，而在非围栏地带，土壤压实度降低了22％。围栏的垃圾深度几乎是未围栏的土地的三倍。处理之间，土壤水分，pH和土壤养分没有差异。在全球陆地生态系统中，Superb Lyrebird翻倒的巨大垃圾和土壤是其他脊椎动物土壤工程师所无法比拟的。这种觅食活动对森林生态系统的深远影响因其全年的分布和广泛的分布而被放大。Lyrebirds施加的干扰机制对生态系统的各种过程都具有影响，包括分解和养分循环，乱扔垃圾和土壤的无脊椎动物群落的组成，地层植被格局的塑造，火灾行为和火灾后生态系统的恢复。现在，保持莱里伯德种群作为生态系统功能的关键促进因素现在是及时而关键的，因为澳大利亚东部地区在2019–2020年夏季发生了史无前例的野火，严重烧毁了约1200万公顷的森林，其中包括约30％的超级莱里伯德地理范围。