["languages_typename_ge" not defined]Clear Cookie - decide language by browser settings

Deer herbivory as an important driver of divergence of ground vegetation communities in temperate forests

Suzuki, Maki and Miyashita, Tadashi and Kabaya, Hajime and Ochiai, Keiji and Asada, Masahiko and Kikvidze, Zaal (2012) Deer herbivory as an important driver of divergence of ground vegetation communities in temperate forests. Oikos, 122. pp. 104-110. ISSN 1600-0706

This is the latest version of this item.

[img]
Preview
 Text
Suzuki et al 2012 Oikos.pdf
Download (233kB) | Preview

Abstract

Ungulate herbivory can fundamentally affect terrestrial vegetation at the landscape and regional levels, but its impact has never been analyzed from meta-community perspectives. Here, we study a meta-community of forest ground-layer plants in a warm-temperate region along a clear gradient of deer density interplaying with gradients of other environmental factors (forest type, sky openness and topographic wetness). Canonical corresponding analysis showed that deer density was the most important determinant of species distributions. These distributions conformed to a two-directional filtering model, which selects for competitive species at low deer density but favours herbivory-tolerant plants at high deer density, with these two directions counterbalancing each other when herbivory is intermediary. This resulted in a bi-directionally nested meta-community, in which local species richness was highest at intermediate levels of deer density, conforming also to the intermediate disturbance hypothesis. Our results suggest that herbivory can be the most important driver of meta-community structure in mesic systems; this contrasts with the results of earlier studies conducted in harsh environments, where species sorting by abiotic factors at early life stages reduced the role of biotic interactions, including herbivory.

Item Type: Article
Subjects: Q Science > Ecology
Divisions: Institutes > 4D Research Institute
Depositing User: Prof. Zaal Kikvidze
Date Deposited: 16 Apr 2015 06:03
Last Modified: 16 Apr 2015 06:03
URI: http://eprints.iliauni.edu.ge/id/eprint/2063

Available Versions of this Item

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item
eprints is powered by EPrints 3 which is developed by the School of Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton. More information and software credits.