Functional traits—not nativeness—shape the effects of large mammalian herbivores on plant communities
DOI10.5281/zenodo.10386467Zenodo10386467MaRDI QIDQ6699446FDOQ6699446
Dataset published at Zenodo repository.
Patricio Pereyra, Juraj Bergman, Elizabeth le Roux, Erick Lundgren, Rasmus Østergaard Pedersen, Jonas Trepel, Jeppe Kristensen, Sophie Monsarrat, Jens-Christian Svenning, Melanie Tietje
Publication date: 14 December 2023
Large mammalian herbivores (megafauna) have experienced extinctions and declines since prehistory. Introduced megafauna have partly counteracted these losses yet are thought to have unusually negative effects compared to native megafauna. Using a meta-analysis of 3,995 plot-scale plant abundance and diversity responses from 221 studies, we found no evidence that megafauna impacts were shaped by nativeness, 'invasiveness', 'feralness', coevolutionary history, or functional and phylogenetic novelty. Nor was there evidence that introduced megafauna facilitate introduced plants more than native megafauna. Instead, we found strong evidence that functional traits shaped megafauna impacts, with larger-bodied and bulk-feeding megafauna promoting plant diversity. Our work suggests that trait-based ecology provides better insight into interactions between megafauna and plants than concepts of nativeness.
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