« Previous AbstractCellulose as a Delivery System of Raspberry Juice Volatiles and Their Stability    Next AbstractEmission of Plutella xylostella-induced compounds from cabbages grown at elevated CO2 and orientation behavior of the natural enemies »

Ecology

Title:		Cool as a moose: How can browsing counteract climate warming effects across boreal forest ecosystems?
Author(s):		Vuorinen KEM; Kolstad AL; De Vriendt L; Austrheim G; Tremblay JP; Solberg EJ; Speed JDM;
Address:		"Department of Natural History, NTNU University Museum, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Erling Skakkes gate 47 A, Trondheim, NO-7491, Norway. Department of Biology, Laval University, 1045 Avenue de la Medecine, Quebec City, Quebec, G1V 0A6, Canada. Center for Forest Research (CEF), Pavillon Abitibi-Price, 2405 Rue de la Terrasse, Sainte-Foy, Quebec City, Quebec, G1V 0A6, Canada. Center for Northern Studies (CEN), Laval University, Abitibi-Price building, 2405 rue de la Terrasse, Quebec City, Quebec, G1V 0A6, Canada. Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, P.O. Box 5685, Trondheim, NO-7485, Norway"
Journal Title:		Ecology
Year:		2020
Volume:		20200909
Issue:		11
Page Number:		e03159 -
DOI:		10.1002/ecy.3159
ISSN/ISBN:		1939-9170 (Electronic) 0012-9658 (Linking)
Abstract:		"Herbivory has potential to modify vegetation responses to climatic changes. However, climate and herbivory also affect each other, and rarely work in isolation from other ecological factors, such as plant-plant competition. Thus, it is challenging to predict the extent to which herbivory can counteract, amplify, or interact with climate impacts on ecosystems. Here, we investigate how moose modify climatic responses of boreal trees by using experimental exclosures on two continents and modeling complex causal pathways including several climatic factors, multiple tree species, competition, tree height, time, food availability, and herbivore presence, density, and browsing intensity. We show that moose can counteract, that is, 'cool down' positive temperature responses of trees, but that this effect varies between species depending on moose foraging preferences. Growth of preferred deciduous trees was strongly affected by moose, whereas growth of less preferred conifers was mostly driven by climate and tree height. In addition, moose changed temperature responses of rowan in Norway and balsam fir in Canada, by making fir more responsive to temperature but decreasing the strength of the temperature response of rowan. Snow protected trees from browsing, and therefore moose 'cooling power' might increase should a warming climate result in decreased snow cover. Furthermore, we found evidence of indirect effects of moose via plant-plant competition: By constraining growth of competing trees, moose can contribute positively to the growth of other trees. Our study shows that in boreal forests, herbivory cooling power is highly context dependent, and in order to understand its potential to prevent changes induced by warming climate, species differences, snow, competition, and climate effects on browsing need to be considered"
Keywords:		Animals Canada Climate Change *Ecosystem Forests Norway *Taiga Trees birch boreal forest browsing climate changes fir moose pine rowan spruce structural equation modeling;
Notes:		"MedlineVuorinen, Katariina E M Kolstad, Anders L De Vriendt, Laurent Austrheim, Gunnar Tremblay, Jean-Pierre Solberg, Erling J Speed, James D M eng Miljodirektoratet/ Fonds de Recherche du Quebec - Nature et Technologies/ 262064/Norges Forskningsrad/ 184036/S30/Norges Forskningsrad/ Canadian Network for Research and Innovation in Machining Technology, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada/ County governor and County councils in Trondelag, Hedmark, Akershus and Telemark/ Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't 2021/01/16 Ecology. 2020 Nov; 101(11):e03159. doi: 10.1002/ecy.3159. Epub 2020 Sep 9"