The ephemeral resource patch concept

Ephemeral resource patches (ERPs) – short lived resources including dung, carrion, temporary pools, rotting vegetation, decaying wood, and fungi – are found throughout every ecosystem. Their short-lived dynamics greatly enhance ecosystem heterogeneity and have shaped the evolutionary trajectories of a wide range of organisms – from bacteria to insects and amphibians. Despite this, there has been no attempt to distinguish ERPs clearly from other resource types, to identify their shared spatiotemporal characteristics, or to articulate their broad ecological and evolutionary influences on biotic communities. Here, we define ERPs as any distinct consumable resources which (i) are homogeneous (genetically, chemically, or structurally) relative to the surrounding matrix, (ii) host a discrete multitrophic community consisting of species that cannot replicate solely in any of the surrounding matrix, and (iii) cannot maintain a balance between depletion and renewal, which in turn, prevents multiple generations of consumers/users or reaching a community equilibrium. We outline the wide range of ERPs that fit these criteria, propose 12 spatiotemporal characteristics along which ERPs can vary, and synthesise a large body of literature that relates ERP dynamics to ecological and evolutionary theory. We draw this knowledge together and present a new unifying conceptual framework that incorporates how ERPs have shaped the adaptive trajectories of organisms, the structure of ecosystems, and how they can be integrated into biodiversity management and conservation. Future research should focus on how inter- and intra-resource variation occurs in nature – with a particular focus on resource × environment × genotype interactions. This will likely reveal novel adaptive strategies, aid the development of new eco-evolutionary theory, and greatly improve our understanding of the form and function of organisms and ecosystems.