Massive and Distinctive Effects of Meadow Voles on Grassland Vegetation

Howe, Henry F.; Zorn-Arnold, Barbara; Sullivan, Amy T.; Brown, Joel S.

doi:10.1890/0012-9658(2006)87[3007:madeom]2.0.co;2

Cited by 98 publications

(103 citation statements)

References 28 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…This year eVect may be due to diVerences in weather between the 2 years: 2004 was slightly cooler and drier than 2003 (NOAA 2009 (Taitt and Krebs 1985;Howe and Lane 2004;Getz et al 2006Getz et al , 2007Howe et al 2006). Interaction between high herbivory pressure when voles are common and plant suppression through herbivory can lead to shifts in plant community composition (e.g., Belsky 1987) as a result of direct and indirect eVects of voles on plant species (sensu Wootton 1994).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Response of two prairie forbs to repeated vole herbivory

Sullivan

Howe

2010

Oecologia

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Vertebrate herbivores as diverse as ungulates, geese, and rabbits preferentially feed on plants that have previously experienced herbivory. Here, we ask whether smaller grassland "cryptic consumers" such as voles (Microtus ochrogaster and M. pennsylvanicus) preferentially clip (cut stems for access to leaves or seeds) or avoid previously clipped individuals of two tallgrass prairie species (Desmanthus illinoensis and Echinacea purpurea) within a growing season. Further, we ask how these plants respond to repeated clipping within a growing season, and whether the effects of this herbivory last into the subsequent growing season. Voles preferentially clipped stems of D. illinoensis and E. purpurea plants that had been previously clipped. The exception was indiscriminant clipping of stems of E. purpurea late in the growing season when its achenes, a favorite vole food, ripened. For D. illinoensis, repeated clipping resulted in a 59% reduction in biomass, 42% lower ratio of reproductive to vegetative biomass, and 57% fewer seeds produced per plant compared with unclipped plants. These effects lasted into the following growing season in which plants were protected from voles. In contrast, the only effect of repeated clipping for E. purpurea was that the number of achenes per plant was substantially reduced by three episodes of clipping. This effect did not carry over to the next growing season. Such differences in D. illinoensis and E. purpurea response to repeated stem clipping by voles offer insights into how these small rodents can effect major changes in composition and dominance in grassland communities.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Vole herbivory can have dramatic eVects on plant community succession, composition, biomass, and diversity (Ostfeld et al 1997;Oksanen and Moen 1994;Howe and Lane 2004;Howe et al 2002Howe et al , 2006Howe 2008). These eVects are likely due at least in part to the pattern (frequency and timing) of plant tissue removal (Doak 1992).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Response of two prairie forbs to repeated vole herbivory

Sullivan

Howe

2010

Oecologia

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Successful habitat restoration uses botanical expertise to predict a wide range of plant dynamics that promote healthy populations and habitats. For example, incorporating the right combination of plant species at appropriate densities and planting times can influence future plant community composition , moderate herbivore effects (Zorn-Arnold, Howe, and Brown, 2006), and help support valuable bumble-bee pollinators (Zorn-Arnold and Howe, 2007).…”

Section: Land Management and Habitat Restorationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cultivating the Power of Plants to Sustain and Enrich Life

Shaw¹,

Ballard²,

Blackmore³

et al. 2017

Plant Conservation Science and Practice

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

PrefacePlants are central to the future of scientific discovery, human well-being, and the sustainable use and preservation of the nation's resources. The botanical community in the United States plays a mission-critical role in researching, conserving, and sustainably managing our plant diversity and resources. Botanical expertise is required to address current and future grand challenges and issues, including climate change mitigation, land management and wildlife habitat restoration, understanding the provision of ecosystem services, management and control of invasive species, and the conservation and recovery of rare species. Despite the fundamental role botanical capacity plays in tackling each of these issues, this report outlines where botanical capacity, particularly human capacity, is lacking across all sectors (government, academic, and private). In the United States over the past two decades, the botanical community has experienced significant changes in the demands placed upon it and the resources available to it. Since the early 1990s a series of published and anecdotal reports have outlined declining botanical capacity in many facets of this sector. This includes declines in human resources like botanical training and expertise, financial and management-level support for research, education and application, and the loss of infrastructure such as herbaria. The nation's science and land management agenda is suffering as a result.Government agencies are losing botanical capacity as staff botanists retire and positions are not refilled, either because positions are eliminated, replaced by individuals without equivalent botanical training, or because there is an inability to find appropriately qualified new candidates to fill them. Botanical education and training likewise appears to be on the decline, with many botany departments at universities being subsumed into more general or interdisciplinary departments, and subsequently losing resident expertise as professors retire and are replaced by individuals without botanical expertise. Organizations in the private sector (e.g. botanic gardens and other non-profit conservation organizations, as well as for-profit businesses and self-employed individuals) are filling these widening gaps in capacity, providing botanical training, expertise, application, and infrastructure where it otherwise would not exist. Though there are ongoing concerns about funding and program sustainability, organizations in the private sector are poised to do more with additional resources and the right partnerships.Prior to this project, it was unclear exactly where the most critical gaps existed and which sector was most capable of filling them in both the short and long-term. Funding from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation was awarded to the Chicago Botanic Garden to carry out a one-year project to assess the nation's current and future botanical capacity to conduct research in the plant sciences, to educate the public, train the next generation of plant scientists, and to...

show abstract

“…Containing only a subset of the landscape species pool, restorations begin as depauperate shadows of native communities and subsequently lose species because of limited area, priority effects of aggressive species and other biotic interactions (e.g. tallgrass prairie plantings, Howe et al, 2006). For small areas, local impoverishment within restored habitat patches may be unavoidable.…”

Section: Species Loss and Exchangementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Collins and Smith, 2006). Moreover, academic journals and anthologies are replete with manipulative small-scale restoration experiments, what we call "restoration boutiques", including some by the authors (Howe et al, 2006;Martínez-Garza et al, 2011, 2013a and important attempts to critically examine the contribution of experiments to the practice of restoration (e.g. Cabin, 2011).…”

Section: Challenges Of Systemic Experimental Restorationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Restoration as experiment

Howe

Martínez‐Garza

2014

Bot. Sci.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A menudo se intenta recrear hábitats degradados o destruidos por actividades antropogénicas mediante restauración por ensayo y error que no incluye réplicas. Los proyectos por ensayo y error son comunes y están basados en planes que incluyen “la mejor técnica disponible” para cada tipo hábitat. El manejo adaptativo incluye usar la experiencia y corregir errores durante el proceso. Este proceso es lento debido a que cada proyecto de restauración se encuentra ya muy avanzado antes de que se intenten realizar ajustes. En estos casos, rara vez se hacen pruebas que incluyan réplicas al inicio o durante el proceso de rectiﬁ cación. Aquí se propone “la restauración experimental sistémica”, que buscará diseñar desde el inicio plantaciones o áreas de manejo en proyectos públicos o comerciales que incluyan réplicas con tratamientos contrastantes. El uso de tratamientos alternativos permitirá la creación de parches que serán expresiones diferentes de una comunidad dentro de un mosaico de hábitats. Hacer réplicas de tratamientos contrastantes permitirá hacer inferencias acerca de las causas y los efectos del éxito o fracaso de un procedimiento a la escala de comunidades, paisajes y ecosistemas. El desarrollo de la ecología de la restauración como ciencia a largo plazo se verá beneﬁciado con la creación de comunidades semi-naturales que tendrán historias contrastantes, e invitará a los administradores y cientíﬁcos a crear proyectos valiosos, más allá de las metas explícitas de manejo o aquellas cientíﬁcas incluidas en un plan inicial. Si intencionalmente se integra heterogeneidad en el ambiente mediante planes de manejo, mosaicos de tratamientos sistémicos dentro y entre hábitats, facilitará que estos tengan respuestas múltiples a cambios impredecibles del clima y del uso de suelo.

show abstract

Massive and Distinctive Effects of Meadow Voles on Grassland Vegetation

Cited by 98 publications

References 28 publications

Response of two prairie forbs to repeated vole herbivory

Response of two prairie forbs to repeated vole herbivory

Cultivating the Power of Plants to Sustain and Enrich Life

Restoration as experiment

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About