Red deer structure the ground-dwelling beetle community in boreal forest

Plant Mediated Interactions: Lower Sawfly Survival on Pines Previously Browsed by Moose

“…Research has shown that intense grazing of forest understory vegetation will lead to decreased understory height as well as changes in understory composition in boreal forest (Speed et al, 2014;Lorentzen Kolstad et al, 2018). Other studies investigating the subsequent effects of browsing on arthropod communities observed a change in both diversity and composition (Suominen et al, 1999;Landsman and Bowman, 2017;Lilleeng et al, 2018). One consequence of an altered predator community is subsequent effects on predation rates of insect herbivores, and plant damage levels.…”

“…One consequence of an altered predator community is subsequent effects on predation rates of insect herbivores, and plant damage levels. The effect of grazing on understory vegetation and arthropod communities is rather well studied (Suominen et al, 2008;Landsman and Bowman, 2017;Lilleeng et al, 2018). Similarly, the structural complexity of individual plants (plant architecture) can influence both predator communities (Langellotto and Denno, 2004) and predation rates (Riihimäki et al, 2006;Šipoš and Kindlmann, 2012).…”

Wild ungulates as forest engineers

“…Several studies have evaluated cascading effects of wild ungulates on temperate forests in Europe, North America, and Oceania (Wardle et al 2002;Allombert et al 2005b;Bressette et al 2012;Kardol et al 2014;Lilleeng et al 2018) by using fencing experiments that included or exclude ungulates. These studies suggest that there are strong top-down effects of ungulates on vegetation composition, which in turn influences soil invertebrate community and decomposition rate (Allombert et al 2005b).…”

“…However, none of these studies have evaluated the complete cascading chain across all the trophic levels. For instance, most studies only measured invertebrate composition (Allombert et al 2005b;Bressette et al 2012;Lilleeng et al 2018) or decomposition rates (Wardle et al 2002). There is a need to evaluate ungulate cascading effects across the complete chain, ranging from understory vegetation, soil attributes, soil invertebrates to litter decomposition.…”

“…We predicted that, through browsing and trampling, ungulates can trigger cascading effects on lower trophic levels and litter decomposition rate (Fig. 1) by homogenizing tree diversity and density, litter depth, invertebrate diversity and biomass as well as soil properties by means of browsing and trampling Lilleeng et al 2018;. Due to feedback loops, we theoretically expect a decrease in tree regeneration diversity in unfenced compared to the fended plots because ungulate browsing and trampling reduces nutrient cycling in soil and thus enhancing bottom-up control of vegetation (Ritchie et al 1998;Wardle et al 2002).…”