Journal
OECOLOGIA
Volume 175, Issue 1, Pages 293-303Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s00442-014-2895-9
Keywords
Disturbance; Fire; Grazing; Plant community richness; Species diversity
Categories
Funding
- NSF Ecosystem Studies and Geography and Regional Science Program [DEB-0841917]
- Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
- Direct For Biological Sciences
- Division Of Integrative Organismal Systems [0841865] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Division Of Environmental Biology
- Direct For Biological Sciences [0823341, 1440484] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
- Div Of Biological Infrastructure
- Direct For Biological Sciences [1034285] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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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.
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