Evolutionary history of grazing and resources determine herbivore exclusion effects on plant diversity

Jodi N Price^#¹, Judith Sitters^#^{2

3}, Timothy Ohlert⁴, Pedro M Tognetti⁵, Cynthia S Brown⁶, Eric W Seabloom⁷, Elizabeth T Borer⁷, Suzanne M Prober⁸, Elisabeth S Bakker⁹, Andrew S MacDougall¹⁰, Laura Yahdjian⁵, Daniel S Gruner¹¹, Harry Olde Venterink¹², Isabel C Barrio¹³, Pamela Graff⁵, Sumanta Bagchi¹⁴, Carlos Alberto Arnillas¹⁵, Jonathan D Bakker¹⁶, Dana M Blumenthal¹⁷, Elizabeth H Boughton¹⁸, Lars A Brudvig¹⁹, Miguel N Bugalho²⁰, Marc W Cadotte²¹, Maria C Caldeira²², Chris R Dickman²³, Ian Donohue²⁴, Sonnier Grégory¹⁸, Yann Hautier²⁵, Ingibjörg S Jónsdóttir²⁶, Luciola S Lannes²⁷, Rebecca L McCulley²⁸, Joslin L Moore²⁹, Sally A Power³⁰, Anita C Risch³¹, Martin Schütz³¹, Rachel Standish³², Carly J Stevens³³, G F Veen³⁴, Risto Virtanen³⁵, Glenda M Wardle²³

Affiliations

¹ Gulbali Institute, Charles Sturt University, Albury, New South Wales, Australia. joprice@csu.edu.au.
² Ecology and Biodiversity, Department Biology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium. judith.sitters@wur.nl.
³ Wageningen Environmental Research, Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen, the Netherlands. judith.sitters@wur.nl.
⁴ Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.
⁵ IFEVA-CONICET, Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
⁶ Department of Agricultural Biology and Graduate Degree Program in Ecology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA.
⁷ Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, USA.
⁸ CSIRO Land and Water, Wembley, Western Australia, Australia.
⁹ Department of Aquatic Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), Wageningen, the Netherlands.
¹⁰ Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
¹¹ Department of Entomology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.
¹² Ecology and Biodiversity, Department Biology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium.
¹³ Faculty of Environmental and Forest Sciences, Agricultural University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland.
¹⁴ Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India.
¹⁵ Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, University of Toronto-Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
¹⁶ School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
¹⁷ Rangeland Resources & Systems Research Unit, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Fort Collins, CO, USA.
¹⁸ Archbold Biological Station, Buck Island Ranch, Lake Placid, FL, USA.
¹⁹ Department of Plant Biology and Program in Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA.
²⁰ Centre for Applied Ecology 'Prof. Baeta Neves' (CEABN-InBIO), School of Agriculture, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal.
²¹ Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto-Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
²² Forest Research Centre, School of Agriculture, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal.
²³ Desert Ecology Research Group, School of Life & Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
²⁴ Department of Zoology, School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
²⁵ Ecology and Biodiversity Group, Department of Biology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
²⁶ Institute of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland.
²⁷ Department of Biology and Animal Sciences, São Paulo State University-UNESP, Ilha Solteira, Brazil.
²⁸ Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA.
²⁹ School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia.
³⁰ Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Penrith, New South Wales, Australia.
³¹ Community Ecology, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland.
³² Environmental and Conservation Sciences, Murdoch University, Murdoch, Western Australia, Australia.
³³ Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK.
³⁴ Department of Terrestrial Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology, Wageningen, the Netherlands.
³⁵ Ecology and Genetics, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 35879541
DOI: 10.1038/s41559-022-01809-9

Evolutionary history of grazing and resources determine herbivore exclusion effects on plant diversity

Jodi N Price et al. Nat Ecol Evol. 2022 Sep.

. 2022 Sep;6(9):1290-1298.

doi: 10.1038/s41559-022-01809-9. Epub 2022 Jul 25.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Gulbali Institute, Charles Sturt University, Albury, New South Wales, Australia. joprice@csu.edu.au.
² Ecology and Biodiversity, Department Biology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium. judith.sitters@wur.nl.
³ Wageningen Environmental Research, Wageningen University and Research, Wageningen, the Netherlands. judith.sitters@wur.nl.
⁴ Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.
⁵ IFEVA-CONICET, Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
⁶ Department of Agricultural Biology and Graduate Degree Program in Ecology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA.
⁷ Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN, USA.
⁸ CSIRO Land and Water, Wembley, Western Australia, Australia.
⁹ Department of Aquatic Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology (NIOO-KNAW), Wageningen, the Netherlands.
¹⁰ Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada.
¹¹ Department of Entomology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA.
¹² Ecology and Biodiversity, Department Biology, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium.
¹³ Faculty of Environmental and Forest Sciences, Agricultural University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland.
¹⁴ Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India.
¹⁵ Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, University of Toronto-Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
¹⁶ School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
¹⁷ Rangeland Resources & Systems Research Unit, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Fort Collins, CO, USA.
¹⁸ Archbold Biological Station, Buck Island Ranch, Lake Placid, FL, USA.
¹⁹ Department of Plant Biology and Program in Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, USA.
²⁰ Centre for Applied Ecology 'Prof. Baeta Neves' (CEABN-InBIO), School of Agriculture, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal.
²¹ Department of Biological Sciences, University of Toronto-Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
²² Forest Research Centre, School of Agriculture, University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal.
²³ Desert Ecology Research Group, School of Life & Environmental Sciences, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
²⁴ Department of Zoology, School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.
²⁵ Ecology and Biodiversity Group, Department of Biology, Utrecht University, Utrecht, the Netherlands.
²⁶ Institute of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland.
²⁷ Department of Biology and Animal Sciences, São Paulo State University-UNESP, Ilha Solteira, Brazil.
²⁸ Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY, USA.
²⁹ School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria, Australia.
³⁰ Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Western Sydney University, Penrith, New South Wales, Australia.
³¹ Community Ecology, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland.
³² Environmental and Conservation Sciences, Murdoch University, Murdoch, Western Australia, Australia.
³³ Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK.
³⁴ Department of Terrestrial Ecology, Netherlands Institute of Ecology, Wageningen, the Netherlands.
³⁵ Ecology and Genetics, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland.

^# Contributed equally.

PMID: 35879541
DOI: 10.1038/s41559-022-01809-9

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 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.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

1. White, R., Murray, S. & Rohweder, M. Pilot Analysis of Global Ecosystems: Grassland Ecosystems Technical Report (World Resources Institute, 2000).
1. Thornton, P. K. Livestock production: recent trends, future prospects. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. B 365, 2853–2867 (2010). - DOI
1. Estes, J. A. et al. Trophic downgrading of planet Earth. Science 333, 301–306 (2011). - PubMed - DOI
1. Peñuelas, J. et al. Human-induced nitrogen–phosphorus imbalances alter natural and managed ecosystems across the globe. Nat. Commun. 4, 2934 (2013). - PubMed - DOI
1. Asner, G. P. et al. Physical and biogeochemical controls over terrestrial ecosystem responses to nitrogen deposition. Biogeochemistry 54, 1–39 (2001). - DOI

Publication types

Actions
Actions

MeSH terms

Actions
Actions
Actions
Actions
Actions
Actions

Substances

Actions

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources
- Nature Publishing Group

Save citation to file

Email citation

Add to Collections

Add to My Bibliography

Your saved search

Create a file for external citation management software

Your RSS Feed

Evolutionary history of grazing and resources determine herbivore exclusion effects on plant diversity

Affiliations

Evolutionary history of grazing and resources determine herbivore exclusion effects on plant diversity

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

References

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources