Differences in plant cover and species composition of semiarid grassland communities of central Mexico and its effects on net ecosystem exchange

Delgado-Balbuena, Josué; Arredondo, J. T.; Loescher, Henry W.; Huber­-Sannwald, Elisabeth; Chavez-Aguilar, G.; Luna-Luna, M.; Barretero-Hernandez, R.

doi:10.5194/bg-10-4673-2013

Cited by 21 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…Maintaining ecosystem structure and functioning may be particularly difficult in drylands, especially when subjected to high‐impact disturbances such as grazing (Manzano et al 2000, Delgado‐Balbuena et al 2013). In our study system, BSC communities experienced profound changes in species composition under different grazing management regimes, and these compositional changes remained after almost 30 years of disturbance removal.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biological soil crusts across disturbance–recovery scenarios: effect of grazing regime on community dynamics

Concostrina‐Zubiri

Huber-Sannwald

Martínez

et al. 2014

Ecological Applications

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Grazing represents one of the most common disturbances in drylands worldwide, affecting both ecosystem structure and functioning. Despite the efforts to understand the nature and magnitude of grazing effects on ecosystem components and processes, contrasting results continue to arise. This is particularly remarkable for the biological soil crust (BSC) communities (i.e., cyanobacteria, lichens, and bryophytes), which play an important role in soil dynamics. Here we evaluated simultaneously the effect of grazing impact on BSC communities (resistance) and recovery after livestock exclusion (resilience) in a semiarid grassland of Central Mexico. In particular, we examined BSC species distribution, species richness, taxonomical group cover (i.e., cyanobacteria, lichen, bryophyte), and composition along a disturbance gradient with different grazing regimes (low, medium, high impact) and along a recovery gradient with differently aged livestock exclosures (short‐, medium‐, long‐term exclusion). Differences in grazing impact and time of recovery from grazing both resulted in slight changes in species richness; however, there were pronounced shifts in species composition and group cover. We found we could distinguish four highly diverse and dynamic BSC species groups: (1) species with high resistance and resilience to grazing, (2) species with high resistance but low resilience, (3) species with low resistance but high resilience, and (4) species with low resistance and resilience. While disturbance resulted in a novel diversity configuration, which may profoundly affect ecosystem functioning, we observed that 10 years of disturbance removal did not lead to the ecosystem structure found after 27 years of recovery. These findings are an important contribution to our understanding of BCS dynamics from a species and community perspective placed in a land use change context.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biological soil crusts across disturbance–recovery scenarios: effect of grazing regime on community dynamics

Concostrina‐Zubiri

Huber-Sannwald

Martínez

et al. 2014

Ecological Applications

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“…Activity budgets of primates are in uenced by many factors in natural habitats, most of which relate to the challenges of acquiring food energy and the availability of food resources [4,5]. For instance, the decline of wildlife habitat quality [6][7][8] includes a reduction of perennial grass and herbaceous vegetation covers [9,10]. erefore, factors that influence food availability have a strong effect on time allocation decisions [11,12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Activity and Ranging Patterns of Gelada Monkeys as Behavioral Responses to the Effects of Livestock Grazing in the Simien Mountains National Park, Ethiopia

Abebe¹,

Ashagrie

Moges

2022

International Journal of Zoology

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Understanding of behavioral ecology of primates in grazed lands is vital to their conservation and monitoring strategies. Here we investigated how livestock grazing within the Simien Mountains National Park affects the activity time budgeting and ranging behavior of the geladas, a monkey endemic to Ethiopian highlands. This study was carried out from February 2019 to July 2019 by stratifying the study area as grazed and nongrazed sites. Activity time pattern data were collected using 5 minutes instantaneous scan sampling within 15 minutes intervals from 7:00 to 18:00 for 10 days per month in the grazed and nongrazed sites. The ranging data were also collected by tracking the study group and recording GPS points every 15 minutes sample. The effects of livestock grazing on activity time budgets were statistically analyzed by multiple analyses of variance (MANOVA). Daily range length and home range size were estimated by employing the Open Jump toolbox (MOVEAN), and statistically tested by Mann–Whitney U test. From 3427 behavioral scans on the various activities, feeding was the most frequent (43.04%) behavioral activity followed by moving, accounting for 38.06% of the time. The study revealed that grazing has a statistically significant effect on moving and social activity time budgets. The geladas dwelling in the grazed areas of the park spent more time in moving than in the nongrazed areas. The effect of grazing on social behavior is the reverse of moving. Similarly, geladas traveled longer daily range length and cover a wider home range size in the grazed areas. Therefore, these findings of the study imply that livestock grazing is adversely affecting the behavior of gelada monkeys in the park. To minimize such effects on gelada monkeys and harmonize grazing with wildlife habitat conservation, the grazing pressure reduction strategy must be closely monitored and supported by animal feed cultivation technology.

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“…Ecological communities may adapt to consistent shifts in climate conditions over long time frames (Thomey et al, 2011), but cannot respond to the relatively short changes expected to occur within the next few decades (Jump & Penuelas, 2005). Consequently, numerous studies project significant loss of species associated with a changing climate (Barbet‐Massin & Jetz, 2015; Böhm et al, 2016; Delgado‐Balbuena et al, 2013; Kerr et al, 2015; Sala et al, 2000). However, not all species are expected to be affected equally.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inclusion of trophic interactions increases the vulnerability of an alpine butterfly species to climate change

Filazzola

Matter

Roland

2020

Global Change Biology

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Climate change is expected to have significant and complex impacts on ecological communities. In addition to direct effects of climate on species, there can also be indirect effects through an intermediary species, such as in host-plant interactions.Indirect effects are expected to be more pronounced in alpine environments because these ecosystems are sensitive to temperature changes and there are limited areas for migration of both species (i.e. closed systems), and because of simpler trophic interactions. We tested the hypothesis that climate change will reduce the range of an alpine butterfly (Parnassius smintheus) because of indirect effects through its host plant (Sedum sp.). To test for direct and indirect effects, we used the simulations of climate change to assess the distribution of P. smintheus with and without Sedum sp. We also compared the projected ranges of P. smintheus to four other butterfly species that are found in the alpine, but that are generalists feeding on many plant genera. We found that P. smintheus gained distributional area in climate-only models, but these gains were significantly reduced with the inclusion of Sedum sp. and in dryclimate scenarios which resulted in a reduction in net area. When compared to the more generalist butterfly species, P. smintheus exhibited the largest loss in suitable habitat. Our findings support the importance of including indirect effects in modelling species distributions in response to climate change. We highlight the potentially large and still neglected impacts climate change can have on the trophic structure of communities, which can lead to significant losses of biodiversity. In the future, communities will continue to favour species that are generalists as climate change induces asynchronies in the migration of species. K E Y W O R D S alpine, biotic interactions, butterfly, global change, host-plant, maxent, species distribution modelling

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Differences in plant cover and species composition of semiarid grassland communities of central Mexico and its effects on net ecosystem exchange

Cited by 21 publications

References 60 publications

Biological soil crusts across disturbance–recovery scenarios: effect of grazing regime on community dynamics

Biological soil crusts across disturbance–recovery scenarios: effect of grazing regime on community dynamics

The Activity and Ranging Patterns of Gelada Monkeys as Behavioral Responses to the Effects of Livestock Grazing in the Simien Mountains National Park, Ethiopia

Inclusion of trophic interactions increases the vulnerability of an alpine butterfly species to climate change

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