Herbivores reduce seedling recruitment in alpine plant communities
(2021) In Nordic Journal of Botany 39(2).- Abstract
Through changes in climate and other environmental factors, alpine tundra ecosystems are subject to increased cover of erect shrubs, reduced predictability of rodent dynamics and changes in wild and domesticated herbivore densities. To predict the dynamics of these ecosystems, we need to understand how these simultaneous changes affect alpine vegetation. In the long term, vegetation dynamics may depend critically on seedling recruitment. To study drivers of alpine plant seedling recruitment, we set up a field experiment where we manipulated the opportunity for plant–plant interactions through vegetation removal and introduction of willow transplants, the occurrence of herbivory through caging of plots, and then sowed 14 species into the... (More)
Through changes in climate and other environmental factors, alpine tundra ecosystems are subject to increased cover of erect shrubs, reduced predictability of rodent dynamics and changes in wild and domesticated herbivore densities. To predict the dynamics of these ecosystems, we need to understand how these simultaneous changes affect alpine vegetation. In the long term, vegetation dynamics may depend critically on seedling recruitment. To study drivers of alpine plant seedling recruitment, we set up a field experiment where we manipulated the opportunity for plant–plant interactions through vegetation removal and introduction of willow transplants, the occurrence of herbivory through caging of plots, and then sowed 14 species into the plots. We replicated the experiment in three common alpine vegetation types (heath, meadow and Salix shrubland) and recorded seedling emergence and survival over five years. Strong effects of vegetation removal and substantial differences in recruitment among dominant vegetation types suggested important effects of local vegetation on the recruitment success of vascular-plant seedlings. Similarly, herbivore exclusion had strong positive effects on recruitment success. This effect arose primarily via reduced seedling mortality in plots from which herbivores had been experimentally excluded and became noticeably stronger over time. In contrast, we detected no consistent effects of experimental willow shrub introduction on seedling recruitment. These results demonstrate that large and small herbivores can affect alpine plant seedling recruitment negatively by trampling and feeding on seedlings. Importantly, the effects became stronger over time, suggesting that effects of herbivory on seedling recruitment accumulates over time and may relate to recruitment phases beyond initial seedling emergence.
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- author
- Opedal, Øystein H. LU ; Nystuen, Kristin O. ; Hagen, Dagmar ; Holien, Håkon ; Sørensen, Mia Vedel ; Lang, Simone I. ; Lindmo, Sigrid ; Strimbeck, G. Richard and Graae, Bente J.
- organization
- publishing date
- 2021-02
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- climate change, herbivory, plant–animal interactions, seedling recruitment, shrub encroachment, species interactions, vegetation dynamics
- in
- Nordic Journal of Botany
- volume
- 39
- issue
- 2
- article number
- e02989
- publisher
- Wiley-Blackwell
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85101393882
- ISSN
- 0107-055X
- DOI
- 10.1111/njb.02989
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- additional info
- Publisher Copyright: © 2021 The Authors. Nordic Journal of Botany published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Nordic Society Oikos Copyright: Copyright 2021 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
- id
- ef9f57d4-e064-43b0-acff-b0c27d60ed99
- date added to LUP
- 2021-03-05 18:41:04
- date last changed
- 2022-05-24 05:05:45
@article{ef9f57d4-e064-43b0-acff-b0c27d60ed99,
abstract = {{<p>Through changes in climate and other environmental factors, alpine tundra ecosystems are subject to increased cover of erect shrubs, reduced predictability of rodent dynamics and changes in wild and domesticated herbivore densities. To predict the dynamics of these ecosystems, we need to understand how these simultaneous changes affect alpine vegetation. In the long term, vegetation dynamics may depend critically on seedling recruitment. To study drivers of alpine plant seedling recruitment, we set up a field experiment where we manipulated the opportunity for plant–plant interactions through vegetation removal and introduction of willow transplants, the occurrence of herbivory through caging of plots, and then sowed 14 species into the plots. We replicated the experiment in three common alpine vegetation types (heath, meadow and Salix shrubland) and recorded seedling emergence and survival over five years. Strong effects of vegetation removal and substantial differences in recruitment among dominant vegetation types suggested important effects of local vegetation on the recruitment success of vascular-plant seedlings. Similarly, herbivore exclusion had strong positive effects on recruitment success. This effect arose primarily via reduced seedling mortality in plots from which herbivores had been experimentally excluded and became noticeably stronger over time. In contrast, we detected no consistent effects of experimental willow shrub introduction on seedling recruitment. These results demonstrate that large and small herbivores can affect alpine plant seedling recruitment negatively by trampling and feeding on seedlings. Importantly, the effects became stronger over time, suggesting that effects of herbivory on seedling recruitment accumulates over time and may relate to recruitment phases beyond initial seedling emergence.</p>}},
author = {{Opedal, Øystein H. and Nystuen, Kristin O. and Hagen, Dagmar and Holien, Håkon and Sørensen, Mia Vedel and Lang, Simone I. and Lindmo, Sigrid and Strimbeck, G. Richard and Graae, Bente J.}},
issn = {{0107-055X}},
keywords = {{climate change; herbivory; plant–animal interactions; seedling recruitment; shrub encroachment; species interactions; vegetation dynamics}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{2}},
publisher = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
series = {{Nordic Journal of Botany}},
title = {{Herbivores reduce seedling recruitment in alpine plant communities}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/njb.02989}},
doi = {{10.1111/njb.02989}},
volume = {{39}},
year = {{2021}},
}