Impacts of large herbivores on terrestrial ecosystems

Pringle, Robert M.; Abraham, Joel O.; Anderson, T. Michael; Coverdale, Tyler C.; Davies, Andrew B.; Dutton, Christopher L.; Gaylard, Angela; Goheen, Jacob R.; Holdø, Ricardo M.; Hutchinson, Matthew C.; Kimuyu, Duncan M.; Long, Ryan A.; Subalusky, Amanda L.; Veldhuis, Michiel P.

doi:10.1016/j.cub.2023.04.024

Cited by 49 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 401 publications

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“…This was not a function of megafauna biomass, which did not influence plant diversity (fig. S5, biomass/net primary productivity: slope = 0.10, P value = 0.21), supporting the observation that larger megafauna are not equivalent to a similar biomass of smaller megafauna ( 2 ).…”

Section: Strong Evidence That Functional Traits Shape Megafauna Impactssupporting

confidence: 75%

“…Large terrestrial mammalian herbivores (≥45 kg; henceforth “megafauna”) have distinct effects on ecosystems by causing disturbance, consuming low-nutrient vegetation, and dispersing seeds and nutrients ( 1 , 2 ). These effects were ubiquitous for ~55 million years until the extinctions of the Late Pleistocene and Holocene (~130,000 to 7000 years before present) ( 3 ).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Functional traits—not nativeness—shape the effects of large mammalian herbivores on plant communities

Lundgren,

Bergman,

Trepel

et al. 2024

Science

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Large mammalian herbivores (megafauna) have experienced extinctions and declines since prehistory. Introduced megafauna have partly counteracted these losses yet are thought to have unusually negative effects on plants compared with native megafauna. Using a meta-analysis of 3995 plot-scale plant abundance and diversity responses from 221 studies, we found no evidence that megafauna impacts were shaped by nativeness, “invasiveness,” “feralness,” coevolutionary history, or functional and phylogenetic novelty. Nor was there evidence that introduced megafauna facilitate introduced plants more than native megafauna. Instead, we found strong evidence that functional traits shaped megafauna impacts, with larger-bodied and bulk-feeding megafauna promoting plant diversity. Our work suggests that trait-based ecology provides better insight into interactions between megafauna and plants than do concepts of nativeness.

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Section: Strong Evidence That Functional Traits Shape Megafauna Impactssupporting

confidence: 75%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Functional traits—not nativeness—shape the effects of large mammalian herbivores on plant communities

Lundgren,

Bergman,

Trepel

et al. 2024

Science

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“…Conducting a similar analysis of soil responses across exclosure experiments would let us make more general conclusions below‐ground. A recent comprehensive review by Pringle et al (2023) also provides additional approaches to developing a better mechanistic understanding of the impacts of large herbivores on terrestrial ecosystems.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Strong above‐ground impacts of a non‐native ungulate do not cascade to impact below‐ground functioning in a boreal ecosystem

Swain

Leroux

Buchkowski³

2023

Journal of Animal Ecology

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Experimental studies across biomes demonstrate that herbivores can have significant effects on ecosystem functioning. Herbivore effects, however, can be highly variable with studies demonstrating positive, neutral or negative relationships between herbivore presence and different components of ecosystems. Mixed effects are especially likely in the soil, where herbivore effects are largely indirect mediated through effects on plants. We conducted a long‐term experiment to disentangle the effects of non‐native moose in boreal forests on plant communities, nutrient cycling, soil composition and soil organism communities. To explore the effect of moose on soils, we conduct separate analyses on the soil organic and mineral horizons. Our data come from 11 paired exclosure‐control plots in eastern and central Newfoundland, Canada that provide insight into 22–25 years of moose herbivory. We fit piecewise structural equations models (SEM) to data for the organic and mineral soil horizons to test different pathways linking moose to above‐ground and below‐ground functioning. The SEMs revealed that moose exclusion had direct positive impacts on adult tree count and an indirect negative impact on shrub percent cover mediated by adult tree count. We detected no significant impact of moose on soil microbial C:N ratio or net nitrogen mineralization in the organic or mineral soil horizon. Soil temperature and moisture, however, was more than twice as variable in the presence (i.e. control) than absence (i.e. exclosure) of moose. Overall, we observed clear impacts of moose on above‐ground forest components with limited indirect effects below‐ground. Even after 22–25 years of exclusion, we did not find any evidence of moose impacts on soil microbial C:N ratio and net nitrogen mineralization. Our long‐term study and mechanistic path analysis demonstrates that soils can be resilient to ungulate herbivore effects despite evidence of strong effects above‐ground. Long‐term studies and analyses such as this one are relatively rare yet critical for reconciling some of the context‐dependency observed across studies of ungulates effects on ecosystem functions. Such studies may be particularly valuable in ecosystems with short growing seasons such as the boreal forest.

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“…local density, movement behaviour, body size) and evolutionary (e.g. plant–herbivore coevolutionary history) properties (Bardgett & Wardle, 2010; Pringle et al., 2023). A contemporary framework is needed to link these axes with the operation of specific mechanisms across spatiotemporal scales (Figure 1b).…”

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

“…A contemporary framework is needed to link these axes with the operation of specific mechanisms across spatiotemporal scales (Figure 1b). Organizing context dependency is a key step towards a predictive zoogeochemistry capable of integrating traditional wildlife population management with ecosystem‐focused goals such as restoring multifunctionality through trophic rewilding (Malhi et al., 2022; Pringle et al., 2023).…”

Section: Figurementioning

confidence: 99%

Towards a mechanistic understanding of animal–ecosystem interactions

Meyer,

Leroux

2023

Journal of Animal Ecology

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Research Highlight: Ferraro, K. M., Welker, L., Ward, E. B., Schmitz, O. J., & Bradford, M. A. (2023). Plant mycorrhizal associations mediate the zoogeochemical effects of calving subsidies by a forest ungulate. Journal of Animal Ecology, https://doi.org/10.1111/1365‐2656.14002. Animals play large roles in ecosystem elemental cycling but predicting effects in diverse contexts remains a substantial challenge. Fundamental to progress is (1) identifying mechanisms by which animals impact nutrient distribution and cycling, and (2) disentangling how environmental context mediates the operation of alternative mechanisms. In an elegant field experiment, Ferraro et al. (2023) provide the first detailed exploration of the impact of nutrient inputs from mammalian parturition on soil functioning and the stoichiometry of plant tissues. The authors find that nitrogen from experimental additions of ungulate parturition material (natal fluids) is rapidly incorporated into microsite soil organic pools and plant tissues. They also find that soil processes (soil microbial biomass, rates of carbon mineralization, nitrogen mineralization and nitrification) and the nitrogen content of plant tissues above‐ and belowground are increased by addition of parturition material. Notably, the authors identify that increases in some soil processes and plant tissue nitrogen are weaker in microsites dominated by ericoid mycorrhizal plants than those dominated by ectomycorrhizal plants. These findings demonstrate that parturition depositions, a ubiquitous but overlooked mechanism of mammalian impacts on ecosystems, impact ecosystem processes and plant tissue stoichiometry. Furthermore, plant–fungal associations are a predictive axis of context dependency mediating zoogeochemical effects at fine scales. Ferraro et al.'s (2023) novel approach simultaneously advances mechanistic understanding of animal–ecosystem interactions at fine scales and facilitates prediction of ungulate effects on nutrient availability at landscape extents.

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Impacts of large herbivores on terrestrial ecosystems

Cited by 49 publications

References 401 publications

Functional traits—not nativeness—shape the effects of large mammalian herbivores on plant communities

Functional traits—not nativeness—shape the effects of large mammalian herbivores on plant communities

Strong above‐ground impacts of a non‐native ungulate do not cascade to impact below‐ground functioning in a boreal ecosystem

Towards a mechanistic understanding of animal–ecosystem interactions

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