Herbivore impact on grassland plant diversity depends on habitat productivity and herbivore size
Herbivore impact on grassland plant diversity depends on habitat productivity and herbivore size
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DOI：
10.1111/j.1461-0248.2006.00925.x
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发表时间：
2006-07-01
期刊：
影响因子：
8.8
通讯作者：
Knops, JMH
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Bakker, ES;Ritchie, ME;Knops, JMH
哺乳动物食草动物可以对植物多样性产生显著影响，但目前在许多生产性生态系统中，由于直接灭绝、栖息地丧失和碎片化，它们的数量正在减少，同时在最近的进化时期缺乏此类物种的其他通常是非生产性的生态系统中被引入作为牲畜。这些变化对生物多样性的影响仍然知之甚少。我们在北美和欧洲的七个草原地点进行了为期7年的田间试验，在10倍的生产力梯度上实验分离了初级生产力和不同体型的食草动物对植物物种丰富度的影响。我们发现，包括大型食草动物在内的群落在生产力较高时增加了植物多样性，但在生产力较低时减少了多样性，而小型食草动物在生产力梯度上没有一致的影响。认识到食草动物效应中的这些大规模、跨地点的模式对于制定适当的生物多样性保护战略是重要的。
Mammalian herbivores can have pronounced effects on plant diversity but are currently declining in many productive ecosystems through direct extirpation, habitat loss and fragmentation, while being simultaneously introduced as livestock in other, often unproductive, ecosystems that lacked such species during recent evolutionary times. The biodiversity consequences of these changes are still poorly understood. We experimentally separated the effects of primary productivity and herbivores of different body size on plant species richness across a 10-fold productivity gradient using a 7-year field experiment at seven grassland sites in North America and Europe. We show that assemblages including large herbivores increased plant diversity at higher productivity but decreased diversity at low productivity, while small herbivores did not have consistent effects along the productivity gradient. The recognition of these large-scale, cross-site patterns in herbivore effects is important for the development of appropriate biodiversity conservation strategies.