Interactions between winter and summer herbivory affect spatial and temporal plant nutrient dynamics in tundra grassland communities
In the long‐term, herbivores can alter nutrient dynamics in terrestrial ecosystems by changing the functional composition of plant communities. Here, we ask to what extent herbivores can affect plant‐community nutrient dynamics in the short‐term. We provide theoretical expectations for immediate eff...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/oik.07074 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Foik.07074 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/oik.07074 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/oik.07074 |
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crwiley:10.1111/oik.07074 2024-06-23T07:57:15+00:00 Interactions between winter and summer herbivory affect spatial and temporal plant nutrient dynamics in tundra grassland communities Petit Bon, Matteo Gunnarsdotter Inga, Katarina Jónsdóttir, Ingibjörg Svala Utsi, Tove Aagnes Soininen, Eeva Marjatta Bråthen, Kari Anne 2020 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/oik.07074 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Foik.07074 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/oik.07074 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/oik.07074 en eng Wiley http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ Oikos volume 129, issue 8, page 1229-1242 ISSN 0030-1299 1600-0706 journal-article 2020 crwiley https://doi.org/10.1111/oik.07074 2024-06-13T04:21:23Z In the long‐term, herbivores can alter nutrient dynamics in terrestrial ecosystems by changing the functional composition of plant communities. Here, we ask to what extent herbivores can affect plant‐community nutrient dynamics in the short‐term. We provide theoretical expectations for immediate effects of herbivores on tundra‐grassland plant‐community nutrient levels throughout a single growing season and empirically evaluate these predictions. We established an experiment within two forb‐dominated and two grass‐dominated tundra‐grassland communities. We selected tundra‐patches disturbed by small rodents during the previous winter, and neighbouring undisturbed tundra‐patches. Within each tundra‐patch, we set up a reindeer‐open and a reindeer‐exclusion plot. Throughout the summer, we randomly collected over 2800 leaf samples from 34 vascular plant species/genera and analysed their nitrogen and phosphorus contents. Plant‐community nutrient levels were consistently higher in tundra‐patches affected by small rodents, both across tundra‐grassland types and throughout the growing season. Forbs and grasses growing in small‐rodent disturbed tundra‐patches had 11% and 25% higher nutrient content, respectively, compared to undisturbed tundra‐patches. Reindeer affected only grasses growing in grass‐dominated tundra‐grasslands and the outcome was dependent on small‐rodent winter disturbance. Reindeer increased grass nitrogen content in undisturbed tundra‐patches (+7%) and weakened the positive effects of small rodents in disturbed tundra‐patches (from 25% to 15% higher nutrient content [both nitrogen and phosphorus]). By enhancing plant nutrient levels throughout a single growing season, herbivores were key, immediate modifiers of plant‐community nutrient dynamics in tundra‐grasslands. Higher nutrient contents still detected in senescent leaves at the end of the summer in herbivore‐affected tundra suggest that herbivory is accelerating short‐term tundra‐grassland nutrient cycling rates. Our findings from tundra‐grassland ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Tundra Wiley Online Library Oikos 129 8 1229 1242 |
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Wiley Online Library |
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crwiley |
language |
English |
description |
In the long‐term, herbivores can alter nutrient dynamics in terrestrial ecosystems by changing the functional composition of plant communities. Here, we ask to what extent herbivores can affect plant‐community nutrient dynamics in the short‐term. We provide theoretical expectations for immediate effects of herbivores on tundra‐grassland plant‐community nutrient levels throughout a single growing season and empirically evaluate these predictions. We established an experiment within two forb‐dominated and two grass‐dominated tundra‐grassland communities. We selected tundra‐patches disturbed by small rodents during the previous winter, and neighbouring undisturbed tundra‐patches. Within each tundra‐patch, we set up a reindeer‐open and a reindeer‐exclusion plot. Throughout the summer, we randomly collected over 2800 leaf samples from 34 vascular plant species/genera and analysed their nitrogen and phosphorus contents. Plant‐community nutrient levels were consistently higher in tundra‐patches affected by small rodents, both across tundra‐grassland types and throughout the growing season. Forbs and grasses growing in small‐rodent disturbed tundra‐patches had 11% and 25% higher nutrient content, respectively, compared to undisturbed tundra‐patches. Reindeer affected only grasses growing in grass‐dominated tundra‐grasslands and the outcome was dependent on small‐rodent winter disturbance. Reindeer increased grass nitrogen content in undisturbed tundra‐patches (+7%) and weakened the positive effects of small rodents in disturbed tundra‐patches (from 25% to 15% higher nutrient content [both nitrogen and phosphorus]). By enhancing plant nutrient levels throughout a single growing season, herbivores were key, immediate modifiers of plant‐community nutrient dynamics in tundra‐grasslands. Higher nutrient contents still detected in senescent leaves at the end of the summer in herbivore‐affected tundra suggest that herbivory is accelerating short‐term tundra‐grassland nutrient cycling rates. Our findings from tundra‐grassland ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Petit Bon, Matteo Gunnarsdotter Inga, Katarina Jónsdóttir, Ingibjörg Svala Utsi, Tove Aagnes Soininen, Eeva Marjatta Bråthen, Kari Anne |
spellingShingle |
Petit Bon, Matteo Gunnarsdotter Inga, Katarina Jónsdóttir, Ingibjörg Svala Utsi, Tove Aagnes Soininen, Eeva Marjatta Bråthen, Kari Anne Interactions between winter and summer herbivory affect spatial and temporal plant nutrient dynamics in tundra grassland communities |
author_facet |
Petit Bon, Matteo Gunnarsdotter Inga, Katarina Jónsdóttir, Ingibjörg Svala Utsi, Tove Aagnes Soininen, Eeva Marjatta Bråthen, Kari Anne |
author_sort |
Petit Bon, Matteo |
title |
Interactions between winter and summer herbivory affect spatial and temporal plant nutrient dynamics in tundra grassland communities |
title_short |
Interactions between winter and summer herbivory affect spatial and temporal plant nutrient dynamics in tundra grassland communities |
title_full |
Interactions between winter and summer herbivory affect spatial and temporal plant nutrient dynamics in tundra grassland communities |
title_fullStr |
Interactions between winter and summer herbivory affect spatial and temporal plant nutrient dynamics in tundra grassland communities |
title_full_unstemmed |
Interactions between winter and summer herbivory affect spatial and temporal plant nutrient dynamics in tundra grassland communities |
title_sort |
interactions between winter and summer herbivory affect spatial and temporal plant nutrient dynamics in tundra grassland communities |
publisher |
Wiley |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/oik.07074 https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Foik.07074 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/oik.07074 https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full-xml/10.1111/oik.07074 |
genre |
Tundra |
genre_facet |
Tundra |
op_source |
Oikos volume 129, issue 8, page 1229-1242 ISSN 0030-1299 1600-0706 |
op_rights |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/oik.07074 |
container_title |
Oikos |
container_volume |
129 |
container_issue |
8 |
container_start_page |
1229 |
op_container_end_page |
1242 |
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1802650799617081344 |