Ecosystem patterning can arise from environmental heterogeneity, biological feedbacks that produce multiple persistent ecological states, or their interaction. One source of feedbacks is density-dependent changes in behaviour that regulate species interactions. By fitting state-space models to large-scale (~500 km) surveys on temperate rocky reefs, we find that behavioural feedbacks best explain why kelp and urchin barrens form either reef-wide patches or local mosaics. Best-supported models in California include feedbacks where starvation intensifies grazing across entire reefs create reef-scale, alternatively stable kelp- and urchin-dominated states (32% of reefs). Best-fitting models in New Zealand include the feedback of urchins avoiding dense kelp stands that can increase abrasion and predation risk, which drives a transition from shallower urchin-dominated to deeper kelp-dominated zones, with patchiness at 3–8 m depths with intermediate wave stress. Connecting locally studied processes with region-wide data, we highlight how behaviour can explain community patterning and why some systems exhibit community-wide alternative stable states.

中文翻译：

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Grazer 行为可以调节社区国家的大规模模式

生态系统模式可能源于环境异质性、产生多种持久生态状态的生物反馈或它们的相互作用。反馈的一种来源是调节物种相互作用的行为的密度依赖性变化。通过对温带岩礁的大规模（~500 公里）调查拟合状态空间模型，我们发现行为反馈最能解释为什么海带和海胆荒地形成礁石斑块或局部马赛克。加利福尼亚州最受支持的模型包括反馈，其中饥饿加剧了整个珊瑚礁的放牧，从而形成了珊瑚礁规模、稳定的海藻和海胆占主导地位的状态（占珊瑚礁的 32%）。新西兰最合适的模型包括海胆的反馈，避免密集的海藻林，这会增加磨损和捕食风险，这推动了从较浅的海胆为主的区域向更深的海藻为主的区域的过渡，在 3-8 m 深度具有不均匀的波浪应力。将本地研究的过程与区域范围的数据联系起来，我们强调了行为如何解释社区模式以及为什么某些系统表现出社区范围的替代稳定状态。