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Herbivory affects salt marsh succession dynamics by suppressing the recovery of dominant species

  • Community ecology - Original research
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Abstract

Disturbance can generate heterogeneous environments and profoundly influence plant diversity by creating patches at different successional stages. Herbivores, in turn, can govern plant succession dynamics by determining the rate of species replacement, ultimately affecting plant community structure. In a south-western Atlantic salt marsh, we experimentally evaluated the role of herbivory in the recovery following disturbance of the plant community and assessed whether herbivory affects the relative importance of sexual and clonal reproduction on these dynamics. Our results show that herbivory strongly affects salt marsh secondary succession by suppressing seedlings and limiting clonal colonization of the dominant marsh grass, allowing subordinate species to dominate disturbed patches. These results demonstrate that herbivores can have an important role in salt marsh community structure and function, and can be a key force during succession dynamics.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to B. Silliman and three anonymous reviewers for helpful comments on the manuscript. The experiments comply with the current laws of the country, Argentina, in which the experiments were performed. This project was supported by grants from the Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, CONICET and ANPCyT.

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  1. Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras, CONICET-UNMDP, CC 573 Correo Central, B7600WAG, Mar del Plata, Argentina

    Pedro Daleo, Juan Alberti, Jesús Pascual, Alejandro Canepuccia & Oscar Iribarne

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  1. Pedro Daleo
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  2. Juan Alberti
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  3. Jesús Pascual
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  4. Alejandro Canepuccia
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  5. Oscar Iribarne
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Correspondence to Pedro Daleo.

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Communicated by Laura Gough.

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Daleo, P., Alberti, J., Pascual, J. et al. Herbivory affects salt marsh succession dynamics by suppressing the recovery of dominant species. Oecologia 175, 335–343 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-014-2903-0

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