Plant Traits, Browsing and Gazing Herbivores, and Vegetation Dynamics

Skarpe, Christina; Hester, Alison J.

doi:10.1007/978-3-540-72422-3_9

Cited by 81 publications

(94 citation statements)

References 275 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Repeated browsing by megaherbivores such as the African elephant (Loxodonta africana) leads to the formation of low, intensely coppiced trees or stands of trees with high production of preferred browse . Rebrowsing means that the targeted trees suffer repeated damage and may eventually die or suffer reduced competitive ability relative to other woody plants (Skarpe & Hester, 2008). Heavy browsing by giraffe reduces tree growth rates increasing their susceptibility to drought (Birkett & Stevens-Wood, 2005).…”

Section: Mean Net Biomass (G)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Herbivory may interfere with sexual reproduction in plants, either indirectly by changing physiology and allocation of resources, or directly by consumption of flower buds during the dormant season and flowers and fruits during the growth season (Skarpe & Hester, 2008;Fornara & du Toit, 2008). Herbivory results in plants allocating more resources to vegetative growth at the expense of sexual reproduction favouring species that reproduce vegetatively (Crawley, 1997).…”

Section: High Densitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Tolerance strategies minimise the impacts of the damage (Hanley et al, 2007), with tolerant plants being generally palatable to the herbivores (Skarpe & Hester, 2008). Woody plants show tolerance to herbivory through morphological means such as quick replacement of lost leaves and shoots from protected meristems or through physiological processes such as compensatory photosynthesis and high and flexible rates of nutrient absorption (Hester et al, 2006).…”

Section: Woody Plant Response To Herbivorymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They have developed strong defences for protection against herbivory (Coley et al, 1985;Teague, 1989;Borchard et al, 2011). Woody plants that grow in resource-rich environments often do not avoid herbivory, but develop tolerance traits to minimize the harmful effects of herbivory (Skarpe & Hester, 2008).…”

Section: Woody Plant Response To Herbivorymentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Woody Plant-Herbivore Interactions in Semi-Arid Savanna Ecosystems

Sebata¹

2013

Herbivory

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: Mean Net Biomass (G)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: High Densitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Woody Plant Response To Herbivorymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Woody Plant Response To Herbivorymentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Woody Plant-Herbivore Interactions in Semi-Arid Savanna Ecosystems

Sebata¹

2013

Herbivory

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…Moreover, it was stated that differential defoliation leads to spatial variation in plant growth (Skarpe and Hester, 2008), nutrient cycling (Holdo et al, 2007) and, ultimately, vegetation structure (Wieren and Bakker, 2008). Therefore, grazing may lead to the variation in the abundance of plant species over longer periods by affecting competition processes (Augustine and Mc Naughton, 1998).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Red Deer Grazing on Alpine Hay Meadows: Biodiversity and Management Implications

Catorci¹

2016

Appl Ecol Env Res

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. Large mammalian herbivores are keystone species affecting the biodiversity and functioning of ecosystems, since herbivory directly influences plant species competitive ability. Thus, when managing habitats for conservation it is crucial to understand the selection patterns of large herbivores and their effect on plant diversity and assemblage. With this aim, we studied a pastoral system placed in centraleastern Alps, comparing late mowing with grazing by red deer. We found that, with high stocking rates, red deer significantly affects the species and functional composition of alpine productive pastures, mostly by competitive exclusion of subordinate species due to the spread of poorly palatable, competitive, stress-tolerant tall grasses with strong avoidance strategies. We argued that grazing by red deer with high stocking rates is harmful when acts on formerly managed meadows, while it has a positive impact on plant diversity of long-term abandoned grasslands. Our results indicated that grazing by red deer with high stoking rates hinders the spread of successional/ruderal species, but allows the establishment of competitive dominant tall grasses. Our findings also confirmed the hypothesis that the impact of red deer on grassland biodiversity follows the intermediate disturbance hypothesis.

show abstract