Progressively excluding mammals of different body size affects community and trait structure of ground beetles
Mammalian grazing induces changes in vegetation properties in grasslands, which can affect a wide variety of other animals including many arthropods. However, the impacts may depend on the type and body size of these mammals. Furthermore, how mammals influence functional trait syndromes of arthropod...
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ftunivgent:oai:archive.ugent.be:8587137 2023-06-11T04:14:03+02:00 Progressively excluding mammals of different body size affects community and trait structure of ground beetles Wang, Xiaowei Steiner, Magdalena Schuetz, Martin Vandegehuchte, Martijn L. Risch, Anita C 2018 application/pdf https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/8587137 http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-8587137 https://doi.org/10.1111/oik.05198 https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/8587137/file/8633049 eng eng https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/8587137 http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-8587137 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/oik.05198 https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/8587137/file/8633049 Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0) info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess OIKOS ISSN: 0030-1299 ISSN: 1600-0706 Biology and Life Sciences Earth and Environmental Sciences ALPINE PLANT-COMMUNITIES GRASSLAND MANAGEMENT GRAZING INTENSITY CARABID BEETLES ARTHROPOD COMMUNITIES COLEOPTERA CARABIDAE VEGETATION STRUCTURE TROPHIC CASCADES LARGE HERBIVORES FOOD WEBS biodiversity vertebrate arthropod journalArticle info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion 2018 ftunivgent https://doi.org/10.1111/oik.05198 2023-05-10T22:50:03Z Mammalian grazing induces changes in vegetation properties in grasslands, which can affect a wide variety of other animals including many arthropods. However, the impacts may depend on the type and body size of these mammals. Furthermore, how mammals influence functional trait syndromes of arthropod communities is not well known. We progressively excluded large (e.g. red deer, chamois), medium (e.g. alpine marmot, mountain hare), and small (e.g. mice) mammals using size-selective fences in two vegetation types (short- and tall-grass vegetation) of subalpine grasslands. We then assessed how these exclusions affected the community composition and functional traits of ground beetles (Coleoptera, Carabidae), and which vegetation characteristic mediated the observed effects. Total carabid biomass, the activity densities of carabids with specific traits (i.e. small eyes, short wings), the richness of small-eyed species and the richness of herbivorous species were significantly higher when certain mammals were excluded compared to when all mammals had access, regardless of vegetation type. Excluding large and medium mammals increased the activity density of herbivorous carabid species, but only in short-grass vegetation. Similarly, excluding large mammals (ungulates) altered carabid species composition in the short-, but not in the tall-grass vegetation. All these responses were related to aboveground plant biomass, but not to plant Shannon diversity or vegetation structural heterogeneity. Our results indicate that changes in aboveground plant biomass are key drivers of mammalian grazers' influence on carabids, suggesting that bottom-up forces are important in subalpine grassland systems. The exclusion of ungulates provoked the strongest carabid response. Our results, however, also highlight the ecological significance of smaller herbivorous mammals. Our study furthermore shows that mammalian grazing not only altered carabid community composition, but also caused community-wide functional trait shifts, which could ... Article in Journal/Newspaper mountain hare Ghent University Academic Bibliography Oikos 127 10 1515 1525 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Ghent University Academic Bibliography |
op_collection_id |
ftunivgent |
language |
English |
topic |
Biology and Life Sciences Earth and Environmental Sciences ALPINE PLANT-COMMUNITIES GRASSLAND MANAGEMENT GRAZING INTENSITY CARABID BEETLES ARTHROPOD COMMUNITIES COLEOPTERA CARABIDAE VEGETATION STRUCTURE TROPHIC CASCADES LARGE HERBIVORES FOOD WEBS biodiversity vertebrate arthropod |
spellingShingle |
Biology and Life Sciences Earth and Environmental Sciences ALPINE PLANT-COMMUNITIES GRASSLAND MANAGEMENT GRAZING INTENSITY CARABID BEETLES ARTHROPOD COMMUNITIES COLEOPTERA CARABIDAE VEGETATION STRUCTURE TROPHIC CASCADES LARGE HERBIVORES FOOD WEBS biodiversity vertebrate arthropod Wang, Xiaowei Steiner, Magdalena Schuetz, Martin Vandegehuchte, Martijn L. Risch, Anita C Progressively excluding mammals of different body size affects community and trait structure of ground beetles |
topic_facet |
Biology and Life Sciences Earth and Environmental Sciences ALPINE PLANT-COMMUNITIES GRASSLAND MANAGEMENT GRAZING INTENSITY CARABID BEETLES ARTHROPOD COMMUNITIES COLEOPTERA CARABIDAE VEGETATION STRUCTURE TROPHIC CASCADES LARGE HERBIVORES FOOD WEBS biodiversity vertebrate arthropod |
description |
Mammalian grazing induces changes in vegetation properties in grasslands, which can affect a wide variety of other animals including many arthropods. However, the impacts may depend on the type and body size of these mammals. Furthermore, how mammals influence functional trait syndromes of arthropod communities is not well known. We progressively excluded large (e.g. red deer, chamois), medium (e.g. alpine marmot, mountain hare), and small (e.g. mice) mammals using size-selective fences in two vegetation types (short- and tall-grass vegetation) of subalpine grasslands. We then assessed how these exclusions affected the community composition and functional traits of ground beetles (Coleoptera, Carabidae), and which vegetation characteristic mediated the observed effects. Total carabid biomass, the activity densities of carabids with specific traits (i.e. small eyes, short wings), the richness of small-eyed species and the richness of herbivorous species were significantly higher when certain mammals were excluded compared to when all mammals had access, regardless of vegetation type. Excluding large and medium mammals increased the activity density of herbivorous carabid species, but only in short-grass vegetation. Similarly, excluding large mammals (ungulates) altered carabid species composition in the short-, but not in the tall-grass vegetation. All these responses were related to aboveground plant biomass, but not to plant Shannon diversity or vegetation structural heterogeneity. Our results indicate that changes in aboveground plant biomass are key drivers of mammalian grazers' influence on carabids, suggesting that bottom-up forces are important in subalpine grassland systems. The exclusion of ungulates provoked the strongest carabid response. Our results, however, also highlight the ecological significance of smaller herbivorous mammals. Our study furthermore shows that mammalian grazing not only altered carabid community composition, but also caused community-wide functional trait shifts, which could ... |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Wang, Xiaowei Steiner, Magdalena Schuetz, Martin Vandegehuchte, Martijn L. Risch, Anita C |
author_facet |
Wang, Xiaowei Steiner, Magdalena Schuetz, Martin Vandegehuchte, Martijn L. Risch, Anita C |
author_sort |
Wang, Xiaowei |
title |
Progressively excluding mammals of different body size affects community and trait structure of ground beetles |
title_short |
Progressively excluding mammals of different body size affects community and trait structure of ground beetles |
title_full |
Progressively excluding mammals of different body size affects community and trait structure of ground beetles |
title_fullStr |
Progressively excluding mammals of different body size affects community and trait structure of ground beetles |
title_full_unstemmed |
Progressively excluding mammals of different body size affects community and trait structure of ground beetles |
title_sort |
progressively excluding mammals of different body size affects community and trait structure of ground beetles |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/8587137 http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-8587137 https://doi.org/10.1111/oik.05198 https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/8587137/file/8633049 |
genre |
mountain hare |
genre_facet |
mountain hare |
op_source |
OIKOS ISSN: 0030-1299 ISSN: 1600-0706 |
op_relation |
https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/8587137 http://hdl.handle.net/1854/LU-8587137 http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/oik.05198 https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/8587137/file/8633049 |
op_rights |
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0) info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1111/oik.05198 |
container_title |
Oikos |
container_volume |
127 |
container_issue |
10 |
container_start_page |
1515 |
op_container_end_page |
1525 |
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1768391582290018304 |