Feral horses dung piles as potential invasion windows for alien plant species in natural grasslands

Loydi, Alejandro; Zalba, Sergio Martín

doi:10.1007/978-90-481-2798-6_9

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Furthermore, exotic plant species are often fast-growing and nitrophilous, enabling them to profit from soil enrichment caused by nitrogen-fixing plants (Maron and Connors, 1996) or animal presence (Loydi and Zalba, 2009). Exotic plants therefore often hold a competitive advantage over indigenous species in areas of increased disturbance (Lake and Leishman, 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fur seal populations facilitate establishment of exotic vascular plants

Haussmann

Rudolph

Kalwij

et al. 2013

Biological Conservation

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The cessation of seal harvesting has prompted a recovery of previously decimated fur seal (Arctocephalus gazella and A. tropicalis) populations across the Southern Ocean region.Although the associated increase in seal-related soil disturbance is known to impact indigenous vegetation, the effect of increasing fur seal numbers on exotic plant species is not yet clear. Here, we compare plant species composition and cover between 26 sites with 2 high fur seal impact paired with nearby control sites on sub-Antarctic Marion Island. Sealaffected sites had a significantly higher number and cover of exotic plants, specifically of the widespread sub-Antarctic invaders, Poa annua and Sagina procumbens, than control sites. Furthermore, some of the native species, most notably the disturbance-sensitive species, Blechnum penna-marina, were significantly less abundant in seal-affected sites compared to controls. We propose that this is a result of both physical trampling, which opens up niches for exotics by damaging natives, and nutrient enrichment of the soils, giving exotic species a competitive advantage over natives. While other studies have noticed associations between exotic plant species and indigenous animal disturbance, this is, to the best of our knowledge, the first study to empirically show that the successful recovery of fur seal populations can have undesirable side-effects such as the enhanced persistence of exotic plant species. We recommend that alien plant management plans specifically include areas of increased animal disturbance into their programmes.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fur seal populations facilitate establishment of exotic vascular plants

Haussmann

Rudolph

Kalwij

et al. 2013

Biological Conservation

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“…This distinct suite of traits encountered in areas exposed to mammalian herbivory is consistent with the results of previous works (e.g., Lavorel and Garnier, 2002;Borchardt et al 2013;Lezama et al 2014; Charles-Dominique et al 2016; de Villalobos and Schwerdt 2018). Our analysis showed the effect of herbivory on community ltering to be particularly strong and con rmed that the presence of mammalian herbivores alters the vertical structure of the grasslands, as livestock tends to prefer taller species (Celaya et al 2011;Zhang et al 2020) and that the replacement of native herbivores such as guanacos by livestock can lead to major changes in composition, which, in some areas, could favor biological invasions in the Pampa biome (Chaneton et al 2002;Loydi and Zalba, 2009;de Villalobos et al 2011). Interestingly, understanding the effect of the novel herbivory regime in Pampa grasslands requires not only studying the effects of the density of herbivores compared to before the Hispanic herbivory regime but also the type of herbivory.…”

Section: Effects Of Herbivorymentioning

confidence: 55%

Disturbance regimes favor alternative plant communities in the natural grasslands of the Pampa Austral (Argentina)

de Villalobos,

Charles-Dominique

2024

Preprint

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The Austral Pampa hosts extensive and diverse grasslands, which, over the last century, have been exposed to climate change and unprecedented disturbance regimes, including domestic herbivory and a novel fire regime. Predicting community responses to these changing conditions and designing appropriate conservation plans requires dissociating the individual contribution of each factor to community filtering. We ask whether fire, herbivory, temperature and drought, favor distinct communities in Pampean grassy ecosystems and which plant traits. Field surveys were conducted in three areas of the Ventania Mountain System in Pampa Austral (Argentina) exposed to varied fire, herbivory, and drought regimes. A total of 140 plant species were examined across 8 sampling areas, selected as representing different disturbance regimes. We measured 17 functional traits related to plant height, reproduction, and leaf area. The relationships between these traits and environmental variables were analyzed using RLQ and fourth-corner methods. RLQ analysis revealed that temperature, rainfall, and herbivory influenced plant communities, while fire frequency had less impact. We identified five distinct plant functional groups (PFGs) that differed in perenniality, type of pollination, resprouting capacity, spinescence, leaf hairiness and leaf area. Separating the effects of herbivory, fire, and drought reveals that multiple stresses could influence communities, resulting in higher resprouting and shorter life cycles. Analyzing how functional traits respond to environmental factors and disturbances provides insights into the conservation challenges posed by these changing disturbance dynamics in the Pampa biome.

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“…Because of the limited vehicle access within the park and isolated nature of the region, it is possible that at least some species were unintentionally introduced into the park on clothing, on shoes, and in the dung, fur, or both of pack animals (Whinam et al 1994;Loydi and Zalba 2009;Pickering and Mount 2010;Pickering 2013a, 2013b). Also, the seed of non-native species could be carried on mountaineering equipment (Whinam et al 2005); most mountaineers in Aconcagua use their own equipment, which may have been used on other summits, including outside South America.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%