2020
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0230192
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The importance of nutrient hotspots for grazing ungulates in a Miombo ecosystem, Tanzania

Abstract: While movement patterns of grazing ungulates are strongly dependent on forage quality their use of nutrient hotspots such as termite mounds or grazing lawns has rarely been quantified, especially in savanna ecosystems where soil-nutrient quality is low. Additionally, few experiments have been conducted to determine the role of termite mound-and grazing lawn-derived soils in improving forage quality in the field. We studied wild ungulate grazing activities around ten termite mounds, six grazing lawns and their … Show more

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Cited by 14 publications
(21 citation statements)
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References 63 publications
(99 reference statements)
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“…The forage preference of both the insect and large grazers determines their interaction (Mayengo et al., 2020; van der Plas & Olff, 2014; van Klink et al., 2015). At KPBS bison prefer grasses, reducing the otherwise dominant C 4 grasses and increasing forb biomass (Collins & Calabrese, 2012) and the abundance and species richness of forb‐feeding grasshoppers (Welti, Qiu, et al., 2019).…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
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“…The forage preference of both the insect and large grazers determines their interaction (Mayengo et al., 2020; van der Plas & Olff, 2014; van Klink et al., 2015). At KPBS bison prefer grasses, reducing the otherwise dominant C 4 grasses and increasing forb biomass (Collins & Calabrese, 2012) and the abundance and species richness of forb‐feeding grasshoppers (Welti, Qiu, et al., 2019).…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…There are several limitations of our study, with the most notable being that no plant data are available for 2019. Thus, we are relying on both older plant data from years with comparable rainfall (Figure 4) and previous work to identify the most likely responses of tallgrass prairie foliar nutrient concentrations (Franzke & Reinhold, 2011; Grant et al., 2014; Mayengo et al., 2020; McNaughton, 1984; Prather et al., 2020; Welti, Roeder, et al., 2020). Additionally, arthropod sampling occurred only in July and does not reflect responses from all seasons and species not present during sampling.…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
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“…In African savanna ecosystems availability of nutritive forage for both domestic and wild herbivores is a major constraint to their production. Hence, both domestic and wild herbivores often congregate in termite mounds and grazing lawns which act as nutrient hotspots in search of nutritive forage [1]. The availability of termite mounds and grazing lawns results in spatial heterogeneity in rangelands, improving availability of nutritive forage for both domestic and wild ungulates, particularly in nutrient poor African savanna ecosystems.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…In southern Africa the wet season occurs between November and April, while the dry season is between May and October. Mayengo et al [1] reported grazing lawns as mostly used during dry season presumably because they are the only patches with green grass. Thus, the use of nutrient hotspots created through short duration overnight cattle kraaling by wildlife is expected to vary with the time of the year.…”
Section: Introductionmentioning
confidence: 99%