Herbivores and nutrients control grassland plant diversity via light limitation

Elizabeth T. Borer; Eric W. Seabloom; Daniel S. Gruner; W. Stanley Harpole; Helmut Hillebrand; Eric M. Lind; Peter B. Alder; Juan Alberti; T. Michael Anderson; Jonathan D. Bakker; Lori Biederman; Dana Blumenthal; Cynthia S. Brown; Lars A. Brudvig; Yvonne M. Buckley; Marc Cadotte; Cheng-Jin Chu; Elsa E. Cleland; Michael J. Crawley; Pedro Daleo; Ellen Ingman Damschen; Kendi F. Davies; Nicole M. DeCrappeo; Guozhen Du; Jennifer Firn; Yann Hautier; Robert W. Heckman; Andy Hector; Janneke HilleRisLambers; Oscar Iribarne; Julia A. Klein; Johannes M.H. Knops; Kimberly J. La Pierre; Andrew D.B. Leakey; Wei Li; Andrew S. MacDougall; Rebecca L. McCulley; Brett A. Melbourne; Charles E. Mitchell; Joslin L. Moore; Brent Mortensen; Lydia R. O’Halloran; John L. Orrock; Jesus Pascual; Suzanne M. Prober; David A. Pyke; Anita C. Risch; Martin Schuetz; Melinda D. Smith; Carly J. Stevens; Lauren L. Sullivan; Ryan J. Williams; Peter D. Wragg; Justin P. Wright; Louie H. Yang

doi:10.1038/nature13144

Herbivores and nutrients control grassland plant diversity via light limitation

Nature

By: Elizabeth T. Borer, Eric W. Seabloom, Daniel S. Gruner, W. Stanley Harpole, Helmut Hillebrand, Eric M. Lind, Peter B. Alder, Juan Alberti, T. Michael Anderson, Jonathan D. Bakker, Lori Biederman, Dana Blumenthal, Cynthia S. Brown, Lars A. Brudvig, Yvonne M. Buckley, Marc Cadotte, Cheng-Jin Chu, Elsa E. Cleland, Michael J. Crawley, Pedro Daleo, Ellen Ingman Damschen, Kendi F. Davies, Nicole M. DeCrappeo, Guozhen Du, Jennifer Firn, Yann Hautier, Robert W. Heckman, Andy Hector, Janneke HilleRisLambers, Oscar Iribarne, Julia A. Klein, Johannes M.H. Knops, Kimberly J. La Pierre, Andrew D.B. Leakey, Wei Li, Andrew S. MacDougall, Rebecca L. McCulley, Brett A. Melbourne, Charles E. Mitchell, Joslin L. Moore, Brent Mortensen, Lydia R. O’Halloran, John L. Orrock, Jesus Pascual, Suzanne M. Prober, David A. Pyke, Anita C. Risch, Martin Schuetz, Melinda D. Smith, Carly J. Stevens, Lauren L. Sullivan, Ryan J. Williams, Peter D. Wragg, Justin P. Wright, and Louie H. Yang

https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13144

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Abstract

Human alterations to nutrient cycles and herbivore communities are affecting global biodiversity dramatically. Ecological theory predicts these changes should be strongly counteractive: nutrient addition drives plant species loss through intensified competition for light, whereas herbivores prevent competitive exclusion by increasing ground-level light, particularly in productive systems. Here we use experimental data spanning a globally relevant range of conditions to test the hypothesis that herbaceous plant species losses caused by eutrophication may be offset by increased light availability due to herbivory. This experiment, replicated in 40 grasslands on 6 continents, demonstrates that nutrients and herbivores can serve as counteracting forces to control local plant diversity through light limitation, independent of site productivity, soil nitrogen, herbivore type and climate. Nutrient addition consistently reduced local diversity through light limitation, and herbivory rescued diversity at sites where it alleviated light limitation. Thus, species loss from anthropogenic eutrophication can be ameliorated in grasslands where herbivory increases ground-level light.

Suggested Citation

Borer, E.T., Seabloom, E.W., Gruner, D., Harpole, W., Hillebrand, H., Lind, E.M., Alder, P.B., Alberti, J., Anderson, T., Bakker, J.D., Biederman, L., Blumenthal, D., Brown, C.S., Brudvig, L.A., Buckley, Y.M., Cadotte, M., Chu, C., Cleland, E., Crawley, M.J., Daleo, P., Damschen, E.I., Davies, K.F., DeCrappeo, N.M., Du, G., Firn, J., Hautier, Y., Heckman, R.W., Hector, A., HilleRisLambers, J., Iribarne, O., Klein, J.A., Knops, J.M., La Pierre, K.J., Leakey, A.D., Li, W., MacDougall, A.S., McCulley, R.L., Melbourne, B.A., Mitchell, C., Moore, J.L., Mortensen, B., O’Halloran, L.R., Orrock, J., Pascual, J., Prober, S.M., Pyke, D.A., Risch, A., Schuetz, M., Smith, M., Stevens, C.J., Sullivan, L.L., Williams, R.J., Wragg, P.D., Wright, J.P., Yang, L.H., 2014, Herbivores and nutrients control grassland plant diversity via light limitation: Nature, v. 508, p. 517-520, https://doi.org/10.1038/nature13144.

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Additional publication details
Publication type	Article
Publication Subtype	Journal Article
Title	Herbivores and nutrients control grassland plant diversity via light limitation
Series title	Nature
DOI	10.1038/nature13144
Volume	508
Publication Date	March 09, 2014
Year Published	2014
Language	English
Publisher	Macmillan Journals Ltd.
Contributing office(s)	Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center, Contaminant Biology Program
Description	4 p.
First page	517
Last page	520