Loss of a large grazer impacts savanna grassland plant communities similarly in North America and South Africa

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• 作者：Stephanie Eby (1)
  Deron E. Burkepile (2)
  Richard W. S. Fynn (3)
  Catherine E. Burns (4)
  Navashni Govender (5)
  Nicole Hagenah (6)
  Sally E. Koerner (1)
  Katherine J. Matchett (6)
  Dave I. Thompson (6) (7)
  Kevin R. Wilcox (1)
  Scott L. Collins (8)
  Kevin P. Kirkman (6)
  Alan K. Knapp (1)
  Melinda D. Smith (1)
  
  1. Graduate Degree Program in Ecology ; Department of Biology ; Colorado State University ; Fort Collins ; CO ; USA
  2. Marine Sciences Program ; Department of Biological Sciences ; Florida International University ; Miami ; FL ; USA
  3. Okavango Research Institute ; Maun ; Botswana
  4. San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory ; Milpitas ; CA ; USA
  5. Scientific Services ; Kruger National Park ; Skukuza ; South Africa
  6. School of Life Sciences ; University of KwaZulu-Natal ; Pietermaritzburg ; South Africa
  7. South African Environmental Observation Network ; Ndlovu Node ; Scientific Services ; Kruger National Park ; Phalaborwa ; South Africa
  8. Department of Biology ; University of New Mexico ; Albuquerque ; NM ; USA
  
• 关键词：Disturbance ; Fire ; Grazing ; Plant community richness ; Species diversity
• 刊名：Oecologia
• 出版年：2014
• 出版时间：May 2014
• 年：2014
• 卷：175
• 期：1
• 页码：293-303
• 全文大小：428 KB
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• 刊物类别：Biomedical and Life Sciences
• 刊物主题：Life Sciences
  Ecology
  Plant Sciences
  
• 出版者：Springer Berlin / Heidelberg
• ISSN：1432-1939

文摘

Large herbivore grazing is a widespread disturbance in mesic savanna grasslands which increases herbaceous plant community richness and diversity. However, humans are modifying the impacts of grazing on these ecosystems by removing grazers. A more general understanding of how grazer loss will impact these ecosystems is hampered by differences in the diversity of large herbivore assemblages among savanna grasslands, which can affect the way that grazing influences plant communities. To avoid this we used two unique enclosures each containing a single, functionally similar large herbivore species. Specifically, we studied a bison (Bos bison) enclosure at Konza Prairie Biological Station, USA and an African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) enclosure in Kruger National Park, South Africa. Within these enclosures we erected exclosures in annually burned and unburned sites to determine how grazer loss would impact herbaceous plant communities, while controlling for potential fire-grazing interactions. At both sites, removal of the only grazer decreased grass and forb richness, evenness and diversity, over time. However, in Kruger these changes only occurred with burning. At both sites, changes in plant communities were driven by increased dominance with herbivore exclusion. At Konza, this was caused by increased abundance of one grass species, Andropogon gerardii, while at Kruger, three grasses, Themeda triandra, Panicum coloratum, and Digitaria eriantha increased in abundance.