The Role of Tectonic Processes in the Interaction Between Geology and Ecosystems

Planet Earth is but one large complex ecosystem. Indeed, every centimeter of the planet is itself an ecosystem, and yet part of a larger, interacting community of organisms and environment that give rise to the natural world (Pickett and Cadenasso, 2002). Habitats, the places where organisms live, are primarily fashioned by geologic processes. These processes started and still control the distribution of the earth’s major land biomes: tundra, desert, grassland, chaparral, forest and savanna. Of particular interest is chaparral, a shrub-dominated ecosystem found on several continents, including the Mediterranean, the African Cape region, central Chile, southwestern Australia, and California Though climate directly determines the distribution of these vegetation types and their related fauna, the climate itself is influenced by mountain building, and by the size, shape and location of landmasses. Accordingly, ecosystems from microscopic to greater than continental-size, generally depend on the magnitude and frequency of geologic processes affecting a given area. The importance of geologic and ecosystem interaction is reflected by increasing scientific recognition and new fields of university study now generally termed “geoecology,” “geobiology,” and “ecohydrology” (Bastian et al., 2002; Rodriquez-Iturbe, 2000; Safford, 2002).