Evolutionary history of grazing and resources determine herbivore exclusion effects on plant diversity
Price, Jodi N; Sitters, Judith; Ohlert, Timothy; Tognetti, Pedro M; Brown, Cynthia S; Seabloom, Eric W; Borer, Elizabeth T; Prober, Suzanne M; Bakker, Elisabeth S; MacDougall, Andrew S; Yahdjian, Laura; Gruner, Daniel S; Olde Venterink, Harry; Barrio, Isabel C; Graff, Pamela; Bagchi, Sumanta; Arnillas, Carlos Alberto; Bakker, Jonathan D; Blumenthal, Dana M; Boughton, Elizabeth H; Brudvig, Lars A; Bugalho, Miguel N; Cadotte, Marc W; Caldeira, Maria C; Dickman, Chris R; Donohue, Ian; Grégory, Sonnier; Hautier, Yann; Jónsdóttir, Ingibjörg S; Lannes, Luciola S; McCulley, Rebecca L; Moore, Joslin L; Power, Sally A; Risch, Anita C; Schütz, Martin; Standish, Rachel; Stevens, Carly J; Veen, G F; Virtanen, Risto; Wardle, Glenda M
(2022) Nature Ecology and Evolution, volume 6, issue 9, pp. 1290 - 1298
(Article)
Abstract
Ecological models predict that the effects of mammalian herbivore exclusion on plant diversity depend on resource availability and plant exposure to ungulate grazing over evolutionary time. Using an experiment replicated in 57 grasslands on six continents, with contrasting evolutionary history of grazing, we tested how resources (mean annual precipitation and
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soil nutrients) determine herbivore exclusion effects on plant diversity, richness and evenness. Here we show that at sites with a long history of ungulate grazing, herbivore exclusion reduced plant diversity by reducing both richness and evenness and the responses of richness and diversity to herbivore exclusion decreased with mean annual precipitation. At sites with a short history of grazing, the effects of herbivore exclusion were not related to precipitation but differed for native and exotic plant richness. Thus, plant species' evolutionary history of grazing continues to shape the response of the world's grasslands to changing mammalian herbivory.
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Keywords: Taverne
ISSN: 2397-334X
Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
Note: Funding Information: This work was generated using data from the Nutrient Network ( http://www.nutnet.org ) experiment, funded at the site scale by individual researchers. Author contributions are detailed in the ‘Author contributions’ section and Supplementary Table ; Supplementary Table lists all data contributors who are not authors. Coordination and data management have been supported by funding to E.T.B and E.W.S. from the National Science Foundation Research Coordination Network (NSF-DEB-1042132) and Long-Term Ecological Research (NSF-DEB-1234162 and NSF-DEB-1831944 to Cedar Creek LTER) programmes and the Institute on the Environment (DG-0001-13). Soil analyses were supported, in part, by USDA-ARS grant no. 58-3098-7-007 to E.T.B. We also thank the Minnesota Supercomputer Institute for hosting project data and the Institute on the Environment for hosting Network meetings. J.S. was supported by The Research Foundation Flanders (FWO), grant no. 12N2618N. I.C.B. and I.S.J. were supported by University of Iceland Research Fund (2015), Soil Conservation Service of Iceland and Orkurannsóknasjóður Landsvirkjunnar (NÝR-09-2017, NÝR-14-2018, NÝR-12-2019). P.T. acknowledges C. Silvoso, C. Molina and S. Campana for field assistance, the familia Bordeu for allowing long-term research on their property and Agro Servicios Pampeanos A.S. for providing the fertilizers. S.M.P. thanks G. Wiehl for assistance with data collection, D. and M. French for supporting the Mt Caroline NutNet site on their property and support through the Terrestrial Ecosystems Research Network (TERN) Great Western Woodlands Supersite. C.A.A. thanks A. Rivero, K. Brinsko, J. Garrett, H. Lee and Agroecology Research Interns for field and laboratory support. L.S.L. thanks F. and S. Papel e Celulose for field support. R.L.M. thanks J. Nelson and E. Carlisle for field support. M.C.C. acknowledges Companhia das Lezirias for hosting the site and Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) funding for the Forest Research Centre (CEF) (UID/00239/2020). G.M.W. thanks B. Tamayo for technical assistance and Bush Heritage Australia for hosting the site on their property. This is publication no. 7387 of the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) and KBS contribution 2315. Funding Information: This work was generated using data from the Nutrient Network (http://www.nutnet.org ) experiment, funded at the site scale by individual researchers. Author contributions are detailed in the ‘Author contributions’ section and Supplementary Table 9 ; Supplementary Table 10 lists all data contributors who are not authors. Coordination and data management have been supported by funding to E.T.B and E.W.S. from the National Science Foundation Research Coordination Network (NSF-DEB-1042132) and Long-Term Ecological Research (NSF-DEB-1234162 and NSF-DEB-1831944 to Cedar Creek LTER) programmes and the Institute on the Environment (DG-0001-13). Soil analyses were supported, in part, by USDA- ARS grant no. 58-3098-7-007 to E.T.B. We also thank the Minnesota Supercomputer Institute for hosting project data and the Institute on the Environment for hosting Network meetings. J.S. was supported by The Research Foundation Flanders (FWO), grant no. 12N2618N. I.C.B. and I.S.J. were supported by University of Iceland Research Fund (2015), Soil Conservation Service of Iceland and Orkurannsóknasjóður Landsvirkjunnar (NÝR-09-2017, NÝR-14-2018, NÝR-12-2019). P.T. acknowledges C. Silvoso, C. Molina and S. Campana for field assistance, the familia Bordeu for allowing long-term research on their property and Agro Servicios Pampeanos A.S. for providing the fertilizers. S.M.P. thanks G. Wiehl for assistance with data collection, D. and M. French for supporting the Mt Caroline NutNet site on their property and support through the Terrestrial Ecosystems Research Network (TERN) Great Western Woodlands Supersite. C.A.A. thanks A. Rivero, K. Brinsko, J. Garrett, H. Lee and Agroecology Research Interns for field and laboratory support. L.S.L. thanks F. and S. Papel e Celulose for field support. R.L.M. thanks J. Nelson and E. Carlisle for field support. M.C.C. acknowledges Companhia das Lezirias for hosting the site and Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) funding for the Forest Research Centre (CEF) (UID/00239/2020). G.M.W. thanks B. Tamayo for technical assistance and Bush Heritage Australia for hosting the site on their property. This is publication no. 7387 of the Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) and KBS contribution 2315. Publisher Copyright: © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.
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