Authors
Sally E Koerner, Melinda D Smith, Deron E Burkepile, Niall P Hanan, Meghan L Avolio, Scott L Collins, Alan K Knapp, Nathan P Lemoine, Elisabeth J Forrestel, Stephanie Eby, Dave I Thompson, Gerardo A Aguado-Santacruz, John P Anderson, T Michael Anderson, Ayana Angassa, Sumanta Bagchi, Elisabeth S Bakker, Gary Bastin, Lauren E Baur, Karen H Beard, Erik A Beever, Patrick J Bohlen, Elizabeth H Boughton, Don Canestro, Ariela Cesa, Enrique Chaneton, Jimin Cheng, Carla M D’Antonio, Claire Deleglise, Fadiala Dembélé, Josh Dorrough, David J Eldridge, Barbara Fernandez-Going, Silvia Fernández-Lugo, Lauchlan H Fraser, Bill Freedman, Gonzalo García-Salgado, Jacob R Goheen, Liang Guo, Sean Husheer, Moussa Karembé, Johannes MH Knops, Tineke Kraaij, Andrew Kulmatiski, Minna-Maarit Kytöviita, Felipe Lezama, Gregory Loucougaray, Alejandro Loydi, Dan G Milchunas, Suzanne J Milton, John W Morgan, Claire Moxham, Kyle C Nehring, Han Olff, Todd M Palmer, Salvador Rebollo, Corinna Riginos, Anita C Risch, Marta Rueda, Mahesh Sankaran, Takehiro Sasaki, Kathryn A Schoenecker, Nick L Schultz, Martin Schütz, Angelika Schwabe, Frances Siebert, Christian Smit, Karen A Stahlheber, Christian Storm, Dustin J Strong, Jishuai Su, Yadugiri V Tiruvaimozhi, Claudia Tyler, James Val, Martijn L Vandegehuchte, Kari E Veblen, Lance T Vermeire, David Ward, Jianshuang Wu, Truman P Young, Qiang Yu, Tamara Jane Zelikova
Publication date
2018/12
Journal
Nature Ecology & Evolution
Volume
2
Issue
12
Pages
1925-1932
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group UK
Description
Herbivores alter plant biodiversity (species richness) in many of the world’s ecosystems, but the magnitude and the direction of herbivore effects on biodiversity vary widely within and among ecosystems. One current theory predicts that herbivores enhance plant biodiversity at high productivity but have the opposite effect at low productivity. Yet, empirical support for the importance of site productivity as a mediator of these herbivore impacts is equivocal. Here, we synthesize data from 252 large-herbivore exclusion studies, spanning a 20-fold range in site productivity, to test an alternative hypothesis—that herbivore-induced changes in the competitive environment determine the response of plant biodiversity to herbivory irrespective of productivity. Under this hypothesis, when herbivores reduce the abundance (biomass, cover) of dominant species (for example, because the dominant plant is palatable), additional …
Scholar articles
SE Koerner, MD Smith, DE Burkepile, NP Hanan… - Nature Ecology & Evolution, 2018