Biotically driven vegetation mosaics in grazing ecosystems: the battle between bioturbation and biocompaction

Howison, Ruth A.; Olff, Han; Koppel, Johan van de; Smit, Christian

doi:10.1002/ecm.1259

Cited by 59 publications

(60 citation statements)

References 98 publications

(224 reference statements)

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“…This results in the well-known grazinglawn-bunch-grass mosaics at intermediate rainfall (400-1,200 mm/yr). Locally, either loop can dominate (Howison et al 2017), while at larger scales, a gradual shift from an herbivore-dominated to a detritivore-dominated system is observed (Fig. 5B).…”

Section: Reviewsmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Locally, either loop can dominate (Howison et al. ), while at larger scales, a gradual shift from an herbivore‐dominated to a detritivore‐dominated system is observed (Fig. B).…”

Section: Interactions Between Multiple Autocatalytic Loopsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…ECOLOGICAL AUTOCATALYSIS 311 2006). This battle between biocompaction and bioturbation is an example of ecosystem-level competition between two autocatalytic loops that arises a result of positive feedbacks within each loop (Howison et al 2017).…”

Section: August 2018mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…5C). Importantly, the biocompaction and bioturbation mechanisms promote the dominance of their loops, by shifting the local conditions toward favorable conditions (Howison et al 2017). Biocompaction by large herbivores creates locally dry conditions due to reduced water holding capacity and infiltration (Thurow 1991, Veldhuis et al 2014.…”

Section: Reviewsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Ecological autocatalysis: a central principle in ecosystem organization?

Veldhuis

Berg

Loreau

et al. 2018

Ecological Monographs

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Ecosystems comprise flows of energy and materials, structured by organisms and their interactions. Important generalizations have emerged in recent decades about conversions by organisms of energy (metabolic theory of ecology) and materials (ecological stoichiometry). However, these new insights leave a key question about ecosystems inadequately addressed: are there basic organizational principles that explain how the interaction structure among species in ecosystems arises? Here we integrate recent contributions to the understanding of how ecosystem organization emerges through ecological autocatalysis (EA), in which species mutually benefit through self‐reinforcing circular interaction structures. We seek to generalize the concept of EA by integrating principles from community and ecosystem ecology. We discuss evidence suggesting that ecological autocatalysis is facilitated by resource competition and natural selection, both central principles in community ecology. Furthermore, we suggest that pre‐emptive resource competition by consumers and plant resource diversity drive the emergence of autocatalytic loops at the ecosystem level. Subsequently, we describe how interactions between such autocatalytic loops can explain pattern and processes observed at the ecosystem scale, and summarize efforts to model different aspect of the phenomenon. We conclude that EA is a central principle that forms the backbone of the organization in systems ecology, analogous to autocatalytic loops in systems chemistry.

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Section: Reviewsmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…Locally, either loop can dominate (Howison et al. ), while at larger scales, a gradual shift from an herbivore‐dominated to a detritivore‐dominated system is observed (Fig. B).…”

Section: Interactions Between Multiple Autocatalytic Loopsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: August 2018mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Reviewsmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Ecological autocatalysis: a central principle in ecosystem organization?

Veldhuis

Berg

Loreau

et al. 2018

Ecological Monographs

Self Cite

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“…Likewise, burial can be caused by natural movements of bed material, usually during storms (Bell et al, 1999), or human activity such as deposition of dredging spoil. Herbivorous grazing can be relatively subtle, creating small scale mosaics of herbivore preferred and avoided patches, promoting plant biodiversity and resilience (Weerman et al, 2011;Howison et al, 2017), or more complete, leading to invasion by other species (e.g., Davies et al, 2007) or the creation of bioturbation pits (Yager et al, 1993). Grazing appears to be more important in some types of canopy (e.g., seagrass meadows, Townsend and Fonseca, 1998;Gera et al, 2013;periphyton biofilms, Gresens and Lowe, 1994;Holomuzki et al, 2006) than in others (e.g., macro-algae beds), although it may have a role in the persistence of gaps in the latter (Thomson et al, 2012).…”

Section: Gapsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biophysical Interactions in Fragmented Marine Canopies: Fundamental Processes, Consequences, and Upscaling

Folkard

2019

Front. Mar. Sci.

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Spatial fragmentation is a near-ubiquitous characteristic of marine canopies. Biophysical interactions with fragmented canopies are multi-faceted and have many significant implications at multiple scales. The aims of this paper are to review research on biophysical interactions in fragmented marine canopies, identify current gaps in knowledge and understanding, and propose ways forward. The review starts at the patch/gap scale and focuses initially on hydrodynamic interactions. It then considers the consequences of these interactions for particulate and dissolved material, and distributions of canopy-associated organisms. Finally, it addresses issues of upscaling to landscape-scale and ways in which this research can be applied to marine landscape management. Work on a broad range of canopy types is considered, including micro-algal biofilms and turf algae; macro-algae, seagrasses and coral reefs; saltmarsh vegetation and mangroves. Although the focus is on marine canopies, insights from studies of fragmented canopies in other contexts are drawn on where relevant. These include freshwater environments and terrestrial forests, grasslands, crop canopies, and urban areas. Specific areas requiring greater attention are highlighted. As a result of this meta-analysis, the following recommendations are made for further research. A lack of basic data is identified across all canopy types regarding the formation, fate and spatial and temporal characteristics of canopy patches, gaps, and spatial structure. Studies of hydrodynamics with fragmented canopies would benefit from shifting focus toward more non-uniform, realistic configurations, while ecological research in this area would benefit from a move toward configurations that are more controlled and tractable for quantitative modeling. More comparative studies across canopy types would enable understanding of their biophysical interactions and their consequences to be more fully tested and developed. A greater incorporation of chemical aspects of canopy systems into work that has hitherto focused on biophysical interactions would also be pertinent. Upscaling of patch and gap-scale phenomena to landscape-scale is identified as a crucial topic, since it is at the latter scale that management efforts are most readily carried out. Overall, an approach that balances hydrodynamics, marine canopy ecology, spatial analysis of landscapes, biogeochemistry, and socio-environmental interactions is recommended.

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Changes in plant community assembly from patchy degradation of grasslands and grazing by different‐sized herbivores

Song

et al. 2023

Ecological Applications

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Grassland degradation caused by increases in livestock grazing threatens a variety of ecosystem services. Understanding changes in plant community assembly during the process of grassland degradation in the presence of grazing is important to help restore degraded grasslands worldwide but has received little attention thus far. The grassland degradation process is typified by heterogeneous degradation, that is, gradual formation of degraded patches (hereafter “patchy degradation”). Here, we experimentally examined the effects of herbivore grazing and patchy degradation on plant community assembly using nine pairs of non‐degraded (intact) and patch‐degraded (fragmented) grasslands subject to grazing by different‐sized herbivores (i.e., NG, no grazing; SG, sheep grazing; CG, cattle grazing) over 4 years. Using a null‐model approach, we estimated the relative magnitude of deterministic processes of community assembly by comparing the observed and expected β‐diversity. We found that in the absence of herbivore grazing, deterministic processes played a greater role in community assembly, regardless of whether patchy degradation had occurred. However, the deterministic processes resulted in plant communities being more spatially similar in non‐degraded grasslands while being more dissimilar in patchy degraded grasslands. Compared with non‐degraded grasslands, species with strong competitive abilities (i.e., Leymus chinensis) were less dominant in patchy degraded grasslands, indicating relaxed competition and a reduced role of species interactions over plant communities. Instead, patchy degradation added the role of environmental variables over plant communities. SG consistently promoted more stochastic plant community assembly in both non‐degraded and patch‐degraded grasslands, while CG promoted more stochastic plant community assembly only in the non‐degraded state, having no effect in the patch‐degraded state. Our study offers important insights into changes in plant community assembly during ongoing patch‐degradation of grasslands, indicating the role of increased environmental filtering of soil and reduced species interactions in driving plant community dynamics with increasing grassland patchy degradation. We also uncovered an herbivore species‐specific effect on plant community assembly during the process of grassland degradation, which will better inform and improve future grassland restoration planning efforts.

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Biotically driven vegetation mosaics in grazing ecosystems: the battle between bioturbation and biocompaction

Cited by 59 publications

References 98 publications

Ecological autocatalysis: a central principle in ecosystem organization?

Ecological autocatalysis: a central principle in ecosystem organization?

Biophysical Interactions in Fragmented Marine Canopies: Fundamental Processes, Consequences, and Upscaling

Changes in plant community assembly from patchy degradation of grasslands and grazing by different‐sized herbivores

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