Ecosystem engineering deals with how one species affects another (or others) via modifying habitat conditions and resource availability. Through the application of this concept, many Earth scientists have assessed the roles of focal species in modulating landscape formation and dynamics. No species, however, lives or evolves in isolation; moreover, few species exist without any engineering effects on their ambient environment. Based on these basic premises, it appears unlikely that any landform on Earth (except, for example, hyperarid desert dunes, recent lava flows, and glacial grooves) exclusively represents the engineering impact of a single species. Thus, surface topography, to some degree, can generally be a combined expression of ≥ two species that mutually interact with each other through their own engineering activities. The purpose of the present research was to review, refine, and expand upon the original ecosystem engineering concept to make it more inclusive and comprehensive. Accordingly, a new concept has been proposed here, the windows of combined ecosystem engineering (WoCEE), to indicate the range within which the relative importance of engineering effects for ≥ two species changes along a gradient, as defined by various abiotic and biotic factors. In support of this novel idea, real-world examples are presented, including ecological succession in terrestrial and coastal dune ecosystems, crab–plant interactions on tidal wetlands, pocket gopher–plant relationships in the grasslands, and biological invasions by exotic mollusks and macrophytes. Notably, there are likely various other examples in nature, provided the spatiotemporal scales at which multiple species play their bioengineering roles correspond to those at which landforms are shaped. This framework represents an important step forward in the realization of true ecosystem engineering and will potentially serve as a unifying theme of biogeomorphology.

生态系统工程处理一个物种如何通过改变栖息地条件和资源可用性来影响另一个（或其他）物种。通过应用这一概念，许多地球科学家已经评估了焦点物种在调节景观形成和动态方面的作用。然而，没有一个物种是孤立地生活或进化的。此外，很少有物种对其周围环境没有任何工程影响。基于这些基本前提，地球上的任何地貌（例如，超干旱沙漠沙丘除外，最近熔岩流和冰川沟）仅代表单一物种的工程影响。因此，在某种程度上，表面形貌通常可以是≥两个物种的组合表达，它们通过自身的工程活动相互影响。本研究的目的是对原有的生态系统工程概念进行回顾、提炼和扩展，使其更具包容性和综合性。因此，这里提出了一个新概念，即联合生态系统工程窗口（WoCEE），以指示工程效应对≥两个物种的相对重要性沿梯度变化的范围，由各种非生物和生物因素定义。为了支持这个新颖的想法，提出了现实世界的例子，大型植物。值得注意的是，只要多个物种发挥其生物工程作用的时空尺度与地形形成的时空尺度相对应，自然界中可能还有其他各种例子。该框架代表了实现真正的生态系统工程的重要一步，并有可能成为生物地貌学的统一主题。