Mammalian herbivory exacerbates plant community responses to long-term increased soil nutrients in two Alaskan tundra plant communities
The interaction between bottom-up and top-down forces in regulating plant communities is a long-standing topic of interest in ecology. Factorial field experiments examining these factors have been relatively few, but recent meta-analyses provide predictions that can be tested in a range of ecosystem...
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Canadian Science Publishing
2018
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1139/as-2017-0025 https://doaj.org/article/d27a07b6e395428c96b3e7d19b594885 |
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:d27a07b6e395428c96b3e7d19b594885 2023-05-15T14:23:37+02:00 Mammalian herbivory exacerbates plant community responses to long-term increased soil nutrients in two Alaskan tundra plant communities Laura Gough David R. Johnson 2018-06-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1139/as-2017-0025 https://doaj.org/article/d27a07b6e395428c96b3e7d19b594885 EN FR eng fre Canadian Science Publishing https://doi.org/10.1139/as-2017-0025 https://doaj.org/toc/2368-7460 doi:10.1139/as-2017-0025 2368-7460 https://doaj.org/article/d27a07b6e395428c96b3e7d19b594885 Arctic Science, Vol 4, Iss 2, Pp 153-166 (2018) herbivory nutrients tundra species richness species eveness Environmental sciences GE1-350 Environmental engineering TA170-171 article 2018 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1139/as-2017-0025 2022-12-31T04:27:04Z The interaction between bottom-up and top-down forces in regulating plant communities is a long-standing topic of interest in ecology. Factorial field experiments examining these factors have been relatively few, but recent meta-analyses provide predictions that can be tested in a range of ecosystems. We tested the prediction that added nutrients would reduce species richness and evenness, while herbivore activity would offset those changes in two tundra plant communities after 11 years. In moist acidic tundra (MAT), herbivores reduced richness more in fertilized plots when mammals were present compared with fertilized plots without herbivores. In dry heath (DH), evenness was significantly reduced in fertilized plots only when herbivores were present, also providing evidence that herbivores enhanced community changes caused by greater nutrient availability. The difference in response between MAT and the meta-analysis predictions appears to be driven by Betula nana, the species that dramatically increased with added nutrients in MAT. Unlike in similar studies and in DH, B. nana is not as palatable as most of the species in the community and is generally avoided by herbivores. These results highlight how the effects of herbivory and nutrients differ across communities and can be affected by the traits of the species present. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Betula nana Tundra Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Arctic Science 4 2 153 166 |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English French |
topic |
herbivory nutrients tundra species richness species eveness Environmental sciences GE1-350 Environmental engineering TA170-171 |
spellingShingle |
herbivory nutrients tundra species richness species eveness Environmental sciences GE1-350 Environmental engineering TA170-171 Laura Gough David R. Johnson Mammalian herbivory exacerbates plant community responses to long-term increased soil nutrients in two Alaskan tundra plant communities |
topic_facet |
herbivory nutrients tundra species richness species eveness Environmental sciences GE1-350 Environmental engineering TA170-171 |
description |
The interaction between bottom-up and top-down forces in regulating plant communities is a long-standing topic of interest in ecology. Factorial field experiments examining these factors have been relatively few, but recent meta-analyses provide predictions that can be tested in a range of ecosystems. We tested the prediction that added nutrients would reduce species richness and evenness, while herbivore activity would offset those changes in two tundra plant communities after 11 years. In moist acidic tundra (MAT), herbivores reduced richness more in fertilized plots when mammals were present compared with fertilized plots without herbivores. In dry heath (DH), evenness was significantly reduced in fertilized plots only when herbivores were present, also providing evidence that herbivores enhanced community changes caused by greater nutrient availability. The difference in response between MAT and the meta-analysis predictions appears to be driven by Betula nana, the species that dramatically increased with added nutrients in MAT. Unlike in similar studies and in DH, B. nana is not as palatable as most of the species in the community and is generally avoided by herbivores. These results highlight how the effects of herbivory and nutrients differ across communities and can be affected by the traits of the species present. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Laura Gough David R. Johnson |
author_facet |
Laura Gough David R. Johnson |
author_sort |
Laura Gough |
title |
Mammalian herbivory exacerbates plant community responses to long-term increased soil nutrients in two Alaskan tundra plant communities |
title_short |
Mammalian herbivory exacerbates plant community responses to long-term increased soil nutrients in two Alaskan tundra plant communities |
title_full |
Mammalian herbivory exacerbates plant community responses to long-term increased soil nutrients in two Alaskan tundra plant communities |
title_fullStr |
Mammalian herbivory exacerbates plant community responses to long-term increased soil nutrients in two Alaskan tundra plant communities |
title_full_unstemmed |
Mammalian herbivory exacerbates plant community responses to long-term increased soil nutrients in two Alaskan tundra plant communities |
title_sort |
mammalian herbivory exacerbates plant community responses to long-term increased soil nutrients in two alaskan tundra plant communities |
publisher |
Canadian Science Publishing |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1139/as-2017-0025 https://doaj.org/article/d27a07b6e395428c96b3e7d19b594885 |
genre |
Arctic Betula nana Tundra |
genre_facet |
Arctic Betula nana Tundra |
op_source |
Arctic Science, Vol 4, Iss 2, Pp 153-166 (2018) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.1139/as-2017-0025 https://doaj.org/toc/2368-7460 doi:10.1139/as-2017-0025 2368-7460 https://doaj.org/article/d27a07b6e395428c96b3e7d19b594885 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1139/as-2017-0025 |
container_title |
Arctic Science |
container_volume |
4 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
153 |
op_container_end_page |
166 |
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1766296118270885888 |