干旱区生态环境知识资源中心(Arid): Native lagomorphs suppress grass establishment in a shrub-encroached, semiarid grassland

Arid

DOI	10.1002/ece3.4730
	Native lagomorphs suppress grass establishment in a shrub-encroached, semiarid grassland
	Abercrombie, Samuel T.1; Koprowski, John L.1; Nichols, Mary H.2; Fehmi, Jeffrey S.1
通讯作者	Abercrombie, Samuel T.
来源期刊	ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
ISSN	2045-7758
出版年	2019
卷号	9 期号:1 页码:307-317
英文摘要	Shrub encroachment into arid grasslands has been associated with reduced grass abundance, increased soil erosion, and local declines in biodiversity. Livestock overgrazing and the associated reduction of fine fuels has been a primary driver of shrub encroachment in the southwestern United States, but shrublands continue to persist despite livestock removal and grassland restoration efforts. We hypothesized that an herbivory feedback from native mammals may contribute to continued suppression of grasses after the removal of livestock. Our herbivore exclusion experiment in southeastern Arizona included five treatment levels and allowed access to native mammals based on their relative body size, separating the effects of rodents, lagomorphs, and mule deer. We included two control treatments and replicated each treatment 10 times (n = 50). We introduced uniform divisions of lawn sod (Cynodon dactylon) into each exclosure for 24-hr periods prior to (n = 2) and following (n = 2) the monsoon rains and used motion-activated cameras to document herbivore visitations. In the pre-monsoon trials, treatments that allowed lagomorph access had less sod biomass relative to other treatments (p 0.001), averaging 44% (SD 36%) and 29% (SD 45%) remaining biomass after the 24-hr trial periods. Following the onset of monsoons, differences in remaining biomass among treatments disappeared. Desert cottontails (Sylvilagus audubonii) were detected more frequently than any of the other 11 herbivore species present at the site, accounting for 83% of detections during the pre-monsoon trials. Significantly more (p 0.001) desert cottontails were detected during the pre-monsoon trials (2,077) compared to the post-monsoon trials (174), which coincided with biomass removal from lagomorph accessible treatments. We conclude that desert cottontails are significant consumers of herbaceous vegetation in shrub-encroached arid grasslands and they, along with other native herbivores, may act as a biotic feedback contributing to the competitive advantage and persistence of shrubs.
英文关键词	Arizona Eragrostis lehmanniana herbivore exclosures herbivory shrub encroachment Sylvilagus
类型	Article
语种	英语
国家	USA
开放获取类型	gold, Green Published
收录类别	SCI-E
WOS记录号	WOS:000457622300025
WOS关键词	COMMUNITY STRUCTURE ; LEPUS-CALIFORNICUS ; LAND-USE ; CHIHUAHUAN ; FEEDBACKS ; DIVERSITY ; HERBIVORY ; PATTERNS ; RANGE ; PRODUCTIVITY
WOS类目	Ecology ; Evolutionary Biology
WOS研究方向	Environmental Sciences & Ecology ; Evolutionary Biology
来源机构	University of Arizona
资源类型	期刊论文
条目标识符	http://119.78.100.177/qdio/handle/2XILL650/215245
作者单位	1.Univ Arizona, Sch Nat Resources & Environm, Tucson, AZ 85721 USA; 2.ARS, USDA, Southwest Watershed Res, Tucson, AZ USA
推荐引用方式 GB/T 7714	Abercrombie, Samuel T.,Koprowski, John L.,Nichols, Mary H.,et al. Native lagomorphs suppress grass establishment in a shrub-encroached, semiarid grassland[J]. University of Arizona,2019,9(1):307-317.
APA	Abercrombie, Samuel T.,Koprowski, John L.,Nichols, Mary H.,&Fehmi, Jeffrey S..(2019).Native lagomorphs suppress grass establishment in a shrub-encroached, semiarid grassland.ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION,9(1),307-317.
MLA	Abercrombie, Samuel T.,et al."Native lagomorphs suppress grass establishment in a shrub-encroached, semiarid grassland".ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION 9.1(2019):307-317.