Résumé
Spatial heterogeneity of abiotic resources is essential for species coexistence. Ecological theory often assumes predefined heterogeneity of resources and assesses its consequences at various ecological scales. However, the recent development of the meta-ecosystem framework highlights how resource patterns should not be construed as an external constraint, but rather as the result of interactions between the activity and movement of organisms and their abiotic environment. For instance, nutrient uptake by plants and plant consumption by herbivores is leading to the redistribution of nutrients in space through the foraging movement of herbivores and recycling processes. Dispersal success of organisms is likely to be constrained by this resource redistribution, and to further feed back on it through consumption by the dispersed populations.We investigated how dispersal and foraging scales of organisms drive the emergence of resource heterogeneity in a spatially explicit nutrient-plant-herbivore occupancy model. We found plant dispersal range to be the main driver of resource spatial autocorrelation, with higher heterogeneity occurring at lower ranges; whereas herbivore dispersal range has very low effects on resource redistribution. Conversely, increasing ranges of herbivore foraging favored resource heterogeneity, leading to higher heterogeneity than expected by chance but only at large foraging ranges and strong recycling rates. We discuss the mechanisms underlying these results, which set bases to better understand how the movement of organisms contribute to create dynamical landscapes of hot and cold spots of abiotic resources.