Nutrients cause grassland biomass to outpace herbivory.
Journal
Nature communications
ISSN: 2041-1723
Titre abrégé: Nat Commun
Pays: England
ID NLM: 101528555
Informations de publication
Date de publication:
27 11 2020
27 11 2020
Historique:
received:
24
01
2020
accepted:
26
10
2020
entrez:
28
11
2020
pubmed:
29
11
2020
medline:
15
12
2020
Statut:
epublish
Résumé
Human activities are transforming grassland biomass via changing climate, elemental nutrients, and herbivory. Theory predicts that food-limited herbivores will consume any additional biomass stimulated by nutrient inputs ('consumer-controlled'). Alternatively, nutrient supply is predicted to increase biomass where herbivores alter community composition or are limited by factors other than food ('resource-controlled'). Using an experiment replicated in 58 grasslands spanning six continents, we show that nutrient addition and vertebrate herbivore exclusion each caused sustained increases in aboveground live biomass over a decade, but consumer control was weak. However, at sites with high vertebrate grazing intensity or domestic livestock, herbivores consumed the additional fertilization-induced biomass, supporting the consumer-controlled prediction. Herbivores most effectively reduced the additional live biomass at sites with low precipitation or high ambient soil nitrogen. Overall, these experimental results suggest that grassland biomass will outstrip wild herbivore control as human activities increase elemental nutrient supply, with widespread consequences for grazing and fire risk.
Identifiants
pubmed: 33247130
doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-19870-y
pii: 10.1038/s41467-020-19870-y
pmc: PMC7695826
doi:
Substances chimiques
Fertilizers
0
Phosphorus
27YLU75U4W
Nitrogen
N762921K75
Types de publication
Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
Langues
eng
Sous-ensembles de citation
IM
Pagination
6036Commentaires et corrections
Type : ErratumIn
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