LARGE HERBIVORES SUPPRESS DECOMPOSER ABUNDANCE IN A SEMIARID GRAZING ECOSYSTEM
LARGE HERBIVORES SUPPRESS DECOMPOSER ABUNDANCE IN A SEMIARID GRAZING ECOSYSTEM
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DOI：
10.1890/03-0354
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发表时间：
2004-04
期刊：
影响因子：
4.8
通讯作者：
M. Sankaran;D. Augustine
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
M. Sankaran;D. Augustine
生态系统层面的生产者-分解者相互作用的研究主要集中在植物生产和土壤质地作为分解者丰度的调节器，但很少考虑放牧者在介导这种相互作用中的作用。在这里，我们进行了重复的围封实验，在高和低水平的土壤肥力，大型，哺乳动物的食草动物在肯尼亚的半干旱放牧生态系统的分解生物量和活动模式的影响。在只有两年的放牧排除，微生物生物量是更大的围栏草地在所有水平的土壤肥力。尽管食草动物在营养丰富的地点刺激了地上植物生产，而在营养贫乏的地点抑制了地上植物生产，但食草动物对微生物生物量的这种一致的负面影响仍然发生了。考虑到所有的潜在途径，放牧影响分解种群表明，观察到的放牧引起的微生物生物量的减少主要与…
Ecosystem-level studies of producer–decomposer interactions have focused primarily on plant production and soil texture as regulators of decomposer abundance but have rarely considered the role of grazers in mediating such interactions. Here, we conducted replicated exclosure experiments at both high and low levels of soil fertility to investigate the effects of large, mammalian grazers on decomposer biomass and activity patterns in a semiarid grazing ecosystem in Kenya. Within only two years of grazer exclusion, microbial biomass was greater in soil of fenced grassland across all levels of soil fertility. This consistent negative effect of grazers on microbial biomass occurred despite the fact that grazers stimulated aboveground plant production in nutrient-rich sites and depressed it in nutrient-poor sites. A consideration of all the potential pathways by which grazers influence decomposer populations suggests that observed grazing-induced reductions in microbial biomass were predominantly associated wi...