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The more the merrier? Multi-species grazing of small herbivores mediates plant community impacts

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Abstract

Small herbivores play keystone functional roles in grassland ecosystems. Recognising the combined effects where herbivores co-exist is important for guiding grassland restoration and biodiversity conservation. On the Tibetan Plateau, both plateau pikas and Himalayan marmots are regarded as pests by Tibetan people and local government, but little is known about their combined effects. We conducted a field study to determine the combined effects of pikas and marmots on plant biodiversity and vegetation structure. Plateau pikas alone consistently reduced the plant height and diversity and increased the vegetation cover of physically unpalatable plants. However, the co-existence of marmots with pikas decreased the vegetation cover of physically unpalatable plants, while increasing the cover of palatable plants and plant diversity, ultimately changing the impact of pikas alone and modulating aspects of the plant community. These results illustrate that increasing the abundance and richness of small herbivores in grassland ecosystems may promote plant diversity and benefit vegetation restoration rather than aggravate the degradation of grasslands.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31300320, 31270467), the Chinese Academy of Sciences Fellowship for Young International Scientists to J.C.R., Key Technology Research and Development Program of Qinghai Province (2014-NS-113). Thank you to the reviewers and editors for comments which improved the quality of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Adaptation and Evolution of Plateau Biota, Northwest Institute of Plateau Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining, 810008, Qinghai, China

    Jiapeng Qu, He Zhang & Yanming Zhang

  2. Animal Ecological Genomics Key Laboratory of Qinghai Province, Xining, 810008, Qinghai, China

    Jiapeng Qu, He Zhang & Yanming Zhang

  3. Institute of Natural Sciences, Massey University, Auckland Campus, North Shore Mail Centre, Private Bag 102904, Auckland, New Zealand

    Weihong Ji

  4. School of Biological Sciences, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland, 1142, New Zealand

    James C. Russell

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  1. Jiapeng Qu
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  2. Weihong Ji
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  3. James C. Russell
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  4. He Zhang
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  5. Yanming Zhang
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Correspondence to Yanming Zhang.

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Additional information

Communicated by Karen E. Hodges.

This research was conducted in a manner that complies with current Chinese laws.

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Qu, J., Ji, W., Russell, J.C. et al. The more the merrier? Multi-species grazing of small herbivores mediates plant community impacts. Biodivers Conserv 25, 2055–2069 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-016-1178-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-016-1178-7

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