Nutrients cause grassland biomass to outpace herbivory

Human activities are transforming grassland biomass via changing climate, elemental nutrients, and herbivory. Theory predicts that food-limited herbivores will consume any additional biomass stimulated by nutrient inputs (‘consumer-controlled’). Alternatively, nutrient supply is predicted to increas...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Borer, E. T., Harpole, W.S., Adler, P. B., Arnillas, C. A., Bugalho, M. N., Cadotte, M. W., Caldeira, M. C., Campana, S., Dickman, C. R., Dickson, T. L., Donohue, I., Eskelinen, Anu, Firn, J. L., Graff, Barbara Pamela, Gruner, D. S., Heckman, R. W., Koltz, A. M., Komatsu, Kimberly J., Lannes, L. S., MacDougall, A. S., Martina, J. P., Moore, J. L., Mortensen, B., Ochoa Hueso, R., Olde Venterink, H., Power, S. A., Price, J. N., Risch, A. C., Sankaran, M., Schütz, M., Sitters, J., Stevens, C. J., Virtanen, R., Wilfahrt, P. A., Seabloom, E. W.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2020
País:Argentina
Institución:Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
Repositorio:CONICET Digital (CONICET)
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ri.conicet.gov.ar:11336/184486
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/11336/184486
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:PRODUCTIVITY
VERTEBRATE HERBIVORE
NITROGEN PHOSPHORUS AND POTASSIUM
FACTORIAL EXPERIMENT
TOP DOWN BOTTOM UP
TROPHIC
NUTRIENT NETWORK (NUTNET)
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1.6
https://purl.org/becyt/ford/1
Descripción
Sumario:Human activities are transforming grassland biomass via changing climate, elemental nutrients, and herbivory. Theory predicts that food-limited herbivores will consume any additional biomass stimulated by nutrient inputs (‘consumer-controlled’). Alternatively, nutrient supply is predicted to increase biomass where herbivores alter community composition or are limited by factors other than food (‘resource-controlled’). Using an experiment replicated in 58 grasslands spanning six continents, we show that nutrient addition and vertebrate herbivore exclusion each caused sustained increases in aboveground live biomass over a decade, but consumer control was weak. However, at sites with high vertebrate grazing intensity or domestic livestock, herbivores consumed the additional fertilization-induced biomass, supporting the consumer-controlled prediction. Herbivores most effectively reduced the additional live biomass at sites with low precipitation or high ambient soil nitrogen. Overall, these experimental results suggest that grassland biomass will outstrip wild herbivore control as human activities increase elemental nutrient supply, with widespread consequences for grazing and fire risk.

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