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Too many is too bad: long-term net negative effects of high density ungulate populations on a dominant mediterranean shrub
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Orientador(es)
Resumo(s)
Plant–animal interactions imply costs and benefits with net balance depending on interacting
species and ecological context. Ungulates, in particular, confer costs (e.g., plant leaf
consumption, flower bud predation) and benefits (e.g., plant overcompensation, seed dispersal)
to plants. Magnitude of costs and benefits may be altered by habitat management or
ecological conditions favoring high density ungulate populations. Little is known however
on whether plant costs or benefits predominate over the years, or the long-term outcomes
of plant-animal interactions in habitat types sustaining high density ungulate populations.
We investigated how high density ungulate populations alter plant costs and benefits by
quantifying ungulate long-term effects on the shrub Cistus ladanifer (Cistaceae) individual
size, seed weight and number, seed bank, and population density, through a 12-year ungulate
exclusion experiment in a Mediterranean scrubland. We monitored plant size and flower
buds in plants exposed or protected from ungulates and number of developed capsules and
seeds consumed (potential seed dispersal) by ungulates during three reproductive seasons.
We found that ungulates negatively affected shrub size and led to a dramatically
decline of shrub reproductive structures and seed production, affecting the plant reproductive
cycle. Number of buds was 27 times higher and number of developed seed 5 times
higher in ungulate-excluded as compared to ungulate-exposed plots. After 9 years of ungulate
exclusion, the C. ladanifer seed bank was 2.6 times higher in ungulate-excluded plots.
The population density of C. ladanifer was 4 times higher in ungulate-excluded plots. Our
long-term experiment showed that high density ungulate populations can alter plant-animal
interactions by reducing plant benefits and increasing plant costs
Descrição
Research Article
Palavras-chave
ungulates shrubs plant-animal interaction Cistus ladanifer
Contexto Educativo
Citação
Lecomte X, Fedriani JM, Caldeira MC, Clemente AS, Olmi A, Bugalho MN (2016) Too Many Is Too Bad: Long-Term Net Negative Effects of High Density Ungulate Populations on a Dominant Mediterranean Shrub. PLoS ONE 11(7): e0158139
Editora
PlosOne