Can large herbivores enhance ecosystem carbon persistence?

There is growing interest in aligning the wildlife conservation and restoration agenda with climate change mitigation goals. However, the presence of large herbivores tends to reduce aboveground biomass in some open-canopy ecosystems, leading to the possibility that large herbivore restoration may negatively influence ecosystem carbon storage. Belowground carbon storage is often ignored in these systems, despite the wide recognition of soils as the largest actively-cycling terrestrial carbon pool. Here, we suggest a shift away from a main focus on vegetation carbon stocks, towards inclusion of whole ecosystem carbon persistence, in future assessments of large herbivore effects on long-term carbon storage. Failure to do so may lead to counterproductive biodiversity and climate impacts of land management actions.

Automated summary

There is a growing interest in aligning the wildlife conservation and restoration agenda with climate change mitigation goals. However, the presence of large herbivores may negatively impact ecosystem carbon storage in some open-canopy ecosystems by reducing aboveground biomass. Despite the recognition of soils as the largest actively-cycling terrestrial carbon pool, belowground carbon storage is often overlooked in these systems. Therefore, there is a need to shift the focus from vegetation carbon stocks to overall ecosystem carbon persistence in assessing the long-term carbon storage effects of large herbivores.