| Title: | The relative and combined effects of herbivore assemblage and soil nitrogen on plant diversity |
| Author(s): | Zhang M; Liu B; Li G; Kuang Y; Yue X; Jiang S; Liu J; Wang L; |
| Address: | "Institute of Grassland Science, Key Laboratory of Vegetation Ecology of the Ministry of Education, Jilin Songnen Grassland Ecosystem National Observation and Research Station, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, 130024, China. Institute of Grassland Science, Key Laboratory of Vegetation Ecology of the Ministry of Education, Jilin Songnen Grassland Ecosystem National Observation and Research Station, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, 130024, China. liujs606@nenu.edu.cn. Institute of Grassland Science, Key Laboratory of Vegetation Ecology of the Ministry of Education, Jilin Songnen Grassland Ecosystem National Observation and Research Station, Northeast Normal University, Changchun, 130024, China. wangl890@nenu.edu.cn" |
| DOI: | 10.1007/s11427-021-1963-2 |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1869-1889 (Electronic) 1674-7305 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Plant diversity can be affected by both herbivore grazing and soil resources. However, it is unclear if the joint effects of herbivores and soil resources might vary with components of plant diversity. Here, we evaluated the relative and combined effects of herbivore assemblage and soil nitrogen (N) quantity and heterogeneity on the alpha and beta components of plant diversity in a grassland that was subjected to four years of grazing under differing herbivore assemblages (no grazing, cattle grazing, sheep grazing, and mixed grazing). We found that herbivore assemblage combined with soil N quantity explained 41% of the variation in plant alpha-diversity, while herbivore assemblage combined with soil N heterogeneity explained 15% of the variation in plant beta-diversity. The independent effects of herbivore assemblage explained more than those of soil N for both alpha- and beta-diversity (alpha-diversity: 12% vs. 4%; beta-diversity: 18% vs. 16%). We concluded that the effects of herbivores are stronger than those of soil N, and that grazing-induced changes in soil resources are important drivers of plant diversity change, especially alpha-diversity. Therefore, we suggest that managing herbivore species by accounting for the effects that their grazing can have on soil resources may be significant for plant diversity maintenance" |
| Keywords: | Animals Cattle Ecosystem *Herbivory Nitrogen Plants Sheep *Soil large herbivore plant diversity resource heterogeneity soil N availability alpha-diversity beta-diversity; |
| Notes: | "MedlineZhang, Minna Liu, Bai Li, Guangyin Kuang, Yingying Yue, Xiuquan Jiang, Shicheng Liu, Jushan Wang, Ling eng China 2021/08/14 Sci China Life Sci. 2022 Apr; 65(4):830-837. doi: 10.1007/s11427-021-1963-2. Epub 2021 Aug 10" |
