A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal
Indirect effects of mammalian browsers on vegetation and ground-dwelling insects in an Alaskan floodplain
Authors: Suominen O, Danell K, Bryant JP
Publisher: UNIVERSITE LAVAL
Publication year: 1999
Journal: Ecoscience -Quebec-
Journal name in source: ECOSCIENCE
Journal acronym: ECOSCIENCE
Volume: 6
Issue: 4
First page : 505
Last page: 510
Number of pages: 6
ISSN: 1195-6860
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/11956860.1999.11682554
Abstract
Several studies in recent years have shown that large mammalian herbivores can have a substantial effect on boreal forest vegetation and soil dynamics. We studied the potential indirect effects of moose and snowshoe hare browsing on ground-living Orthoptera and Coleoptera and herb-layer vegetation in seven long-term exclosures and adjacent browsed plots. Insect and plant assemblages of exclosures and browsed plots differed from each other. Higher biomass of mosses, grass, and forbs characterized browsed plots, whereas Equisetum spp. and Pyrola asarifolia were more common in unbrowsed plots. Insect abundance was generally higher in browsed plots. Curculionidae was the only insect family that tended to be more abundant inside the exclosures. An enhanced food supply, in the form of feces and carrion of mammalian herbivores, and the direct and indirect effects of browsing on tree species composition, field-layer vegetation, litter, and microclimate are the probable causes of differences in the studied insect assemblages.
Several studies in recent years have shown that large mammalian herbivores can have a substantial effect on boreal forest vegetation and soil dynamics. We studied the potential indirect effects of moose and snowshoe hare browsing on ground-living Orthoptera and Coleoptera and herb-layer vegetation in seven long-term exclosures and adjacent browsed plots. Insect and plant assemblages of exclosures and browsed plots differed from each other. Higher biomass of mosses, grass, and forbs characterized browsed plots, whereas Equisetum spp. and Pyrola asarifolia were more common in unbrowsed plots. Insect abundance was generally higher in browsed plots. Curculionidae was the only insect family that tended to be more abundant inside the exclosures. An enhanced food supply, in the form of feces and carrion of mammalian herbivores, and the direct and indirect effects of browsing on tree species composition, field-layer vegetation, litter, and microclimate are the probable causes of differences in the studied insect assemblages.
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