An inherent feature of arid and semiarid environments (drylands) is the importance of landscape heterogeneity in driving soil and ecological processes. Soil disturbance by organisms is an important, but often overlooked, driver of patchiness, but little is known about the temporal changes in soil and ecological processes following disturbance. We used artificial depressions, designed to mimic the foraging pits of the vertebrate marsupial, the Short-beaked echidna (Tachyglossus aculeatus), to examine temporal changes in soil labile carbon, decomposition, litter capture, and plant germination and survival, over an 18 month period. Foraging pits had a half-life of about 7 months, and trapped seven-times more litter than an equivalent area on the soil surface. Larger pits tended to trap more litter than smaller pits. Foraging pits trapped six-times more seed abundance and three-times more richness than the surface. Eighteen months after disturbance, litter decomposition was 30% greater in the pits, and labile carbon concentrations were 8% greater (622 mg kg⁻¹) than the original undisturbed soils (578 mg kg⁻¹). Taken together, we provide strong evidence that foraging by native animals is an important mechanism for driving spatial heterogeneity in dryland soils. Our results also suggest that simulating the activities of short-beaked echidnas may provide a mechanism for rehabilitating degraded soils.

干旱和半干旱环境（旱地）的固有特征是景观异质性在驱动土壤和生态过程中的重要性。生物对土壤的扰动是重要的但经常被忽视的斑块驱动力，但是对扰动后土壤和生态过程的时间变化知之甚少。我们使用了人工凹陷，以模仿脊椎动物有袋动物的觅食坑，即短喙针ech（Tachyglossus aculeatus），以研究在18个月内土壤中不稳定碳，分解，凋落物捕获以及植物发芽和存活的时间变化。觅食坑的半衰期约为7个月，比土壤表层的同等面积捕获的垃圾多7倍。大坑比小坑容易捕获更多的垃圾。觅食坑的种子丰度比地表高六倍，丰度高三倍。扰动后的18个月，窝中的凋落物分解增加了30％，而不稳定的碳浓度（622 mg kg ^-1）比原始的未扰动土壤（578 mg kg ^-1）高了8％。）。两者合计，我们提供有力的证据表明，原生动物觅食是驱动旱地土壤空间异质性的重要机制。我们的研究结果还表明，模拟短喙针ech的活动可能提供修复退化土壤的机制。