Vol.:(0123456789) 1 3 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00114-021-01760-y REVIEW Biogeomorphological eco‑evolutionary feedback between life and geomorphology: a theoretical framework using fossorial mammals Dov Corenblit 1,2  · Bruno Corbara 3  · Johannes Steiger 1 Received: 17 May 2021 / Revised: 15 September 2021 / Accepted: 17 September 2021 © The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2021 Abstract Engineer organisms not only adapt to pre-existing environmental conditions but also co-construct their physical environment. By doing so, they can subsequently change selection pressures for themselves and other species, as well as change com- munity and ecosystem structures and functions. Focusing on one representative example, i.e., fossorial mammals, we show that geomorphological Earth system components are crucial for understanding and quantifying links between evolutionary and ecosystem dynamics and that feedbacks between geomorphology and engineer organisms constitute a major driver of geomorphological organization on the Earth’s surface. We propose a biogeomorphological eco-evolutionary feedback synthesis from the gene to the landscape where eco-evolutionary feedbacks are mediated by the geomorphological dimen- sions of a niche that are afected by engineer organisms, such as fossorial mammals. Our concept encompasses (i) the initial responses of fossorial mammals to environmental constraints that enhance the evolution of their morphological and biome- chanical traits for digging in the soil; (ii) specifc adaptations of engineer fossorial mammals (morphological, biomechanical, physiological and behavioural feedback traits for living in burrows) to their constructed geomorphological environment; and (iii) ecological and evolutionary feedbacks difusing at the community and ecological levels. Such a new perspective in geomorphology may lead to a better conceptualization and analysis of Earth surface processes and landforms as parts of complex adaptive systems in which Darwinian selection processes at lower landscape levels lead to self-organization of higher-level landforms and landscapes. Keywords Biogeomorphology · Fossorial mammals · Functional trait · Niche construction · Ecosystem engineer · Eco- evolutionary dynamics Introduction At the Earth’s surface, biota is strongly afected by the struc- ture and texture of minerals, rocks, sediments and soils, as well as by topography and fuxes in matter and energy. Con- versely, organisms afect these geomorphological variables passively through biomineralization (Dhami et al. 2013) and actively through bioweathering, bioturbation and bio- construction (Viles 1988; Butler 1995; Naylor et al. 2002; Taylor et al. 2009; Corenblit et al. 2011; Viles et al. 2020). Organisms have extensively afected Earth sur face pro- cesses and landforms since the successive colonization of continents from the sea by bacteria, fungi, plants, arthro- pods, annelids and tetrapods, i.e., since the terrestrializa- tion process during the early Palaeozoic era (541 to 252 Ma) (Retallack 1997; Knoll 2003; Taylor et al. 2009; Gibling and Davies 2012; Meyer-Berthaud et al. 2016). In terms of energy expenditures, the respective contributions of biologi- cal and geophysical phenomena to landscape evolution are suggested to be equivalent (Phillips 2009a, b). Wilkinson et al. (2009) calculated that the rate of bioturbation is as rapid as the sustained maximum rate of tectonic uplift. Dar- win (1881) noted that bioturbation by earthworms displaces Communicated by: Claus-Dieter Hillenbrand. * Dov Corenblit dov.corenblit@uca.fr 1 Université Clermont Auvergne, CNRS, GEOLAB, 63000 Clermont‐Ferrand, France 2 Université de Toulouse, CNRS, Laboratoire Écologie Fonctionnelle et Environnement, 31062 Toulouse, France 3 Université Clermont Auvergne, CNRS, LMGE, 63000 Clermont‐Ferrand, France / Published online: 18 October 2021 The Science of Nature (2021) 108: 55