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Herbivores and nutrients control grassland plant diversity via light limitation

Author

Listed:
  • Elizabeth T. Borer

    (Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota)

  • Eric W. Seabloom

    (Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota)

  • Daniel S. Gruner

    (University of Maryland, College Park)

  • W. Stanley Harpole

    (Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University)

  • Helmut Hillebrand

    (Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment, Carl-von- Ossietzky University, 26382 Wilhelmshaven, Oldenburg, Germany)

  • Eric M. Lind

    (Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota)

  • Peter B. Adler

    (Utah State University)

  • Juan Alberti

    (Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras (IIMyC), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Mar del Plata 7600 , Argentina)

  • T. Michael Anderson

    (Wake Forest University)

  • Jonathan D. Bakker

    (School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington)

  • Lori Biederman

    (Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University)

  • Dana Blumenthal

    (Agricultural Research Service (ARS))

  • Cynthia S. Brown

    (Deptartment of Forest, Rangeland and Watershed Stewardship, Colorado State University)

  • Lars A. Brudvig

    (Michigan State University)

  • Yvonne M. Buckley

    (ARC Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, Queensland 4072, Australia
    School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin 2, Ireland)

  • Marc Cadotte

    (University of Toronto Scarborough, Ontario M1C 1A4, Canada)

  • Chengjin Chu

    (State Key Laboratory of Grassland and Agro-Ecosystems, Research Station of Alpine Meadow and Wetland Ecosystems, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000 Gansu, China)

  • Elsa E. Cleland

    (University of California)

  • Michael J. Crawley

    (Imperial College at Silwood Park, Ascot, Berkshire SL5 7PY, UK)

  • Pedro Daleo

    (Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras (IIMyC), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Mar del Plata 7600 , Argentina)

  • Ellen I. Damschen

    (University of Wisconsin)

  • Kendi F. Davies

    (University of Colorado, Boulder Colorado 80309, USA)

  • Nicole M. DeCrappeo

    (US Geological Survey, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center)

  • Guozhen Du

    (State Key Laboratory of Grassland and Agro-Ecosystems, Research Station of Alpine Meadow and Wetland Ecosystems, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000 Gansu, China)

  • Jennifer Firn

    (Queensland University of Technology, Biogeosciences)

  • Yann Hautier

    (Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota)

  • Robert W. Heckman

    (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)

  • Andy Hector

    (University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3RB, UK)

  • Janneke HilleRisLambers

    (School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington)

  • Oscar Iribarne

    (Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras (IIMyC), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Mar del Plata 7600 , Argentina)

  • Julia A. Klein

    (Deptartment of Forest, Rangeland and Watershed Stewardship, Colorado State University)

  • Johannes M. H. Knops

    (School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska)

  • Kimberly J. La Pierre

    (Berkeley Initiative for Global Change Biology, University of California)

  • Andrew D. B. Leakey

    (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

  • Wei Li

    (Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University)

  • Andrew S. MacDougall

    (University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1, Canada)

  • Rebecca L. McCulley

    (University of Kentucky)

  • Brett A. Melbourne

    (University of Colorado, Boulder Colorado 80309, USA)

  • Charles E. Mitchell

    (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)

  • Joslin L. Moore

    (Australian Research Center for Urban Ecology, c/o School of Botany, University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia, and School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Victoria 3800, Australia)

  • Brent Mortensen

    (Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University)

  • Lydia R. O'Halloran

    (Oregon State University)

  • John L. Orrock

    (University of Wisconsin)

  • Jesús Pascual

    (Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras (IIMyC), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Mar del Plata 7600 , Argentina)

  • Suzanne M. Prober

    (CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences, Wembley, West Australia 6913, Australia)

  • David A. Pyke

    (US Geological Survey, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center)

  • Anita C. Risch

    (Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Birmensdorf 8903, Switzerland)

  • Martin Schuetz

    (Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Birmensdorf 8903, Switzerland)

  • Melinda D. Smith

    (Deptartment of Forest, Rangeland and Watershed Stewardship, Colorado State University)

  • Carly J. Stevens

    (Lancaster Environment Center, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YQ, UK)

  • Lauren L. Sullivan

    (Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University)

  • Ryan J. Williams

    (Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University)

  • Peter D. Wragg

    (Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota)

  • Justin P. Wright

    (Duke University)

  • Louie H. Yang

    (University of California)

Abstract

Experimental data collected from 40 grasslands on 6 continents show that nutrients and herbivores can serve as counteracting forces to control local plant diversity; nutrient addition reduces local diversity through light limitation, and herbivory rescues diversity at sites where it alleviates light limitation.

Suggested Citation

  • Elizabeth T. Borer & Eric W. Seabloom & Daniel S. Gruner & W. Stanley Harpole & Helmut Hillebrand & Eric M. Lind & Peter B. Adler & Juan Alberti & T. Michael Anderson & Jonathan D. Bakker & Lori Biede, 2014. "Herbivores and nutrients control grassland plant diversity via light limitation," Nature, Nature, vol. 508(7497), pages 517-520, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:508:y:2014:i:7497:d:10.1038_nature13144
    DOI: 10.1038/nature13144
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Eric W. Seabloom & Maria C. Caldeira & Kendi F. Davies & Linda Kinkel & Johannes M. H. Knops & Kimberly J. Komatsu & Andrew S. MacDougall & Georgiana May & Michael Millican & Joslin L. Moore & Luis I., 2023. "Globally consistent response of plant microbiome diversity across hosts and continents to soil nutrients and herbivores," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-10, December.
    2. Georgios Psyllos & Ioannis Hadjigeorgiou & Panayiotis G. Dimitrakopoulos & Thanasis Kizos, 2022. "Grazing Land Productivity, Floral Diversity, and Management in a Semi-Arid Mediterranean Landscape," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-18, April.
    3. Clinton Carbutt & Kevin Kirkman, 2022. "Ecological Grassland Restoration—A South African Perspective," Land, MDPI, vol. 11(4), pages 1-25, April.
    4. Yue Wang & Yongchun Yang, 2024. "Analysis of the Heterogeneous Coordination between Urban Development Levels and the Ecological Environment in the Chinese Grassland Region (2000–2020): A Case Study of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Re," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-28, June.
    5. Laura E. Dee & Paul J. Ferraro & Christopher N. Severen & Kaitlin A. Kimmel & Elizabeth T. Borer & Jarrett E. K. Byrnes & Adam Thomas Clark & Yann Hautier & Andrew Hector & Xavier Raynaud & Peter B. R, 2023. "Clarifying the effect of biodiversity on productivity in natural ecosystems with longitudinal data and methods for causal inference," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, December.
    6. Yaowen Kou & Quanzhi Yuan & Xiangshou Dong & Shujun Li & Wei Deng & Ping Ren, 2023. "Dynamic Response and Adaptation of Grassland Ecosystems in the Three-River Headwaters Region under Changing Environment: A Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(5), pages 1-30, February.
    7. Minna Zhang & Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo & Guangyin Li & Forest Isbell & Yue Wang & Yann Hautier & Yao Wang & Yingli Xiao & Jinting Cai & Xiaobin Pan & Ling Wang, 2023. "Experimental impacts of grazing on grassland biodiversity and function are explained by aridity," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-8, December.
    8. Antonio Morabito & Carmelo Maria Musarella & Giovanni Spampinato, 2024. "Diversity and Ecological Assessment of Grasslands Habitat Types: A Case Study in the Calabria Region (Southern Italy)," Land, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-17, May.
    9. Pedro Daleo & Juan Alberti & Enrique J. Chaneton & Oscar Iribarne & Pedro M. Tognetti & Jonathan D. Bakker & Elizabeth T. Borer & Martín Bruschetti & Andrew S. MacDougall & Jesús Pascual & Mahesh Sank, 2023. "Environmental heterogeneity modulates the effect of plant diversity on the spatial variability of grassland biomass," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-11, December.
    10. Yuxi Guo & Elizabeth H. Boughton & Stephanie Bohlman & Carl Bernacchi & Patrick J. Bohlen & Raoul Boughton & Evan DeLucia & John E. Fauth & Nuria Gomez-Casanovas & David G. Jenkins & Gene Lollis & Rya, 2023. "Grassland intensification effects cascade to alter multifunctionality of wetlands within metaecosystems," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-15, December.
    11. Barbara Wróbel & Waldemar Zielewicz & Mariola Staniak, 2023. "Challenges of Pasture Feeding Systems—Opportunities and Constraints," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-31, April.
    12. Vaverková, Magdalena Daria & Winkler, Jan & Uldrijan, Dan & Ogrodnik, Paweł & Vespalcová, Tereza & Aleksiejuk-Gawron, Joanna & Adamcová, Dana & Koda, Eugeniusz, 2022. "Fire hazard associated with different types of photovoltaic power plants: Effect of vegetation management," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 162(C).

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