Tolerance of an expanding subarctic shrub, Betula glandulosa, to simulated caribou browsing
Densification of the shrub layer has been reported in many subarctic regions, raising questions about the implication for large herbivores and their resources. Shrubs can tolerate browsing and their level of tolerance could be affected by browsing and soils productivity, eventually modifying resourc...
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Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11794/17146 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0051940 |
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ftunivlavalcorp:oai:corpus.ulaval.ca:20.500.11794/17146 2024-06-23T07:50:57+00:00 Tolerance of an expanding subarctic shrub, Betula glandulosa, to simulated caribou browsing Tremblay, Jean-Pierre Côté, Steeve D. Champagne, Émilie Arctique 2018-02-20T13:41:11Z application/pdf https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11794/17146 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0051940 eng eng Public Library of Science 1932-6203 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11794/17146 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0051940 23272191 http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2 American dwarf birch Région subarctique Bouleau glanduleux -- Effets du broutement sur Bouleau glanduleux -- Croissance Caribou article de recherche COAR1_1::Texte::Périodique::Revue::Contribution à un journal::Article::Article de recherche 2018 ftunivlavalcorp https://doi.org/20.500.11794/1714610.1371/journal.pone.0051940 2024-06-10T23:42:53Z Densification of the shrub layer has been reported in many subarctic regions, raising questions about the implication for large herbivores and their resources. Shrubs can tolerate browsing and their level of tolerance could be affected by browsing and soils productivity, eventually modifying resource availability for the caribou. Our objective was to assess the compensatory growth potential of a subarctic shrub, Betula glandulosa Michx., in relation with caribou browsing and nutriment availability for the plants. We used a simulated browsing (0, 25 and 75% of available shoots) and nitrogen fertilisation (0 and 10 g m22) experiment to test two main hypotheses linking tolerance to resource availability, the Compensatory Continuum Hypothesis and the Growth Rate Hypothesis as well as the predictions from the Limiting Resource Model. We seek to explicitly integrate the relative browsing pressure in our predictions since the amount of tissues removed could affect the capacity of long-lived plants to compensate. Birches fully compensated for moderate browsing with an overall leaf biomass similar to unbrowsed birches but undercompensated under heavy browsing pressure. The main mechanism explaining compensation appears to be the conversion of short shoots into long shoots. The leaf area increased under heavy browsing pressure but only led to undercompensation. Fertilisation for two consecutive years did not influence the response of birch, thus we conclude that our results support the LRM hypothesis of equal tolerance under both high and low nitrogen availability. Our results highlight that the potential for compensatory growth in dwarf birch is surpassed under heavy browsing pressure independently of the fertilisation regime. In the context of the worldwide decline in caribou herds, the reduction in browsing pressure. Other/Unknown Material Arctique* Dwarf birch Subarctic subarctique* Université Laval: CorpusUL PLoS ONE 7 12 e51940 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Université Laval: CorpusUL |
op_collection_id |
ftunivlavalcorp |
language |
English |
topic |
American dwarf birch Région subarctique Bouleau glanduleux -- Effets du broutement sur Bouleau glanduleux -- Croissance Caribou |
spellingShingle |
American dwarf birch Région subarctique Bouleau glanduleux -- Effets du broutement sur Bouleau glanduleux -- Croissance Caribou Tremblay, Jean-Pierre Côté, Steeve D. Champagne, Émilie Tolerance of an expanding subarctic shrub, Betula glandulosa, to simulated caribou browsing |
topic_facet |
American dwarf birch Région subarctique Bouleau glanduleux -- Effets du broutement sur Bouleau glanduleux -- Croissance Caribou |
description |
Densification of the shrub layer has been reported in many subarctic regions, raising questions about the implication for large herbivores and their resources. Shrubs can tolerate browsing and their level of tolerance could be affected by browsing and soils productivity, eventually modifying resource availability for the caribou. Our objective was to assess the compensatory growth potential of a subarctic shrub, Betula glandulosa Michx., in relation with caribou browsing and nutriment availability for the plants. We used a simulated browsing (0, 25 and 75% of available shoots) and nitrogen fertilisation (0 and 10 g m22) experiment to test two main hypotheses linking tolerance to resource availability, the Compensatory Continuum Hypothesis and the Growth Rate Hypothesis as well as the predictions from the Limiting Resource Model. We seek to explicitly integrate the relative browsing pressure in our predictions since the amount of tissues removed could affect the capacity of long-lived plants to compensate. Birches fully compensated for moderate browsing with an overall leaf biomass similar to unbrowsed birches but undercompensated under heavy browsing pressure. The main mechanism explaining compensation appears to be the conversion of short shoots into long shoots. The leaf area increased under heavy browsing pressure but only led to undercompensation. Fertilisation for two consecutive years did not influence the response of birch, thus we conclude that our results support the LRM hypothesis of equal tolerance under both high and low nitrogen availability. Our results highlight that the potential for compensatory growth in dwarf birch is surpassed under heavy browsing pressure independently of the fertilisation regime. In the context of the worldwide decline in caribou herds, the reduction in browsing pressure. |
format |
Other/Unknown Material |
author |
Tremblay, Jean-Pierre Côté, Steeve D. Champagne, Émilie |
author_facet |
Tremblay, Jean-Pierre Côté, Steeve D. Champagne, Émilie |
author_sort |
Tremblay, Jean-Pierre |
title |
Tolerance of an expanding subarctic shrub, Betula glandulosa, to simulated caribou browsing |
title_short |
Tolerance of an expanding subarctic shrub, Betula glandulosa, to simulated caribou browsing |
title_full |
Tolerance of an expanding subarctic shrub, Betula glandulosa, to simulated caribou browsing |
title_fullStr |
Tolerance of an expanding subarctic shrub, Betula glandulosa, to simulated caribou browsing |
title_full_unstemmed |
Tolerance of an expanding subarctic shrub, Betula glandulosa, to simulated caribou browsing |
title_sort |
tolerance of an expanding subarctic shrub, betula glandulosa, to simulated caribou browsing |
publisher |
Public Library of Science |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11794/17146 https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0051940 |
op_coverage |
Arctique |
genre |
Arctique* Dwarf birch Subarctic subarctique* |
genre_facet |
Arctique* Dwarf birch Subarctic subarctique* |
op_relation |
1932-6203 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11794/17146 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0051940 23272191 |
op_rights |
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/20.500.11794/1714610.1371/journal.pone.0051940 |
container_title |
PLoS ONE |
container_volume |
7 |
container_issue |
12 |
container_start_page |
e51940 |
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1802641913624395776 |