Herbivory and nutrients shape grassland soil seed banks
Description
Anthropogenic nutrient enrichment and shifts in herbivory can lead to dramatic changes in the composition and diversity of aboveground plant communities which, in turn, can alter cryptic biodiversity storage, seed banks, in the soil. We used data from seven Nutrient Network grassland sites on four continents, encompassing a range of climatic and environmental conditions, to test the joint effects of fertilization and aboveground mammalian herbivory on seed banks and on the similarity between aboveground plant communities and seed banks. Fertilization decreased plant species richness and diversity in seed banks, and homogenized composition between aboveground and seed bank communities. Fertilization increased seed bank abundance especially in the presence of herbivores, while this effect was smaller in the absence of herbivores. Our findings highlight that nutrient enrichment can weaken the temporal storage effect as a diversity maintaining mechanism and that herbivory needs to be considered when assessing nutrient enrichment effects on seed bank abundance.
Notes
We use R and R Studio to run these files. All are open source.
Funding provided by: Academy of Finland
Crossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100002341
Award Number: 297191
Funding provided by: National Science Foundation
Crossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100000001
Award Number: NSF-DEB-1042132
Funding provided by: National Science Foundation
Crossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100000001
Award Number: NSF-DEB-1234162
Funding provided by: National Science Foundation
Crossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100000001
Award Number: NSF-DEB-1831944
Funding provided by: Institute on the Environment, University of Minnesota
Crossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100011357
Award Number: DG-0001-13
Funding provided by: National Natural Science Foundation of China
Crossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100001809
Award Number: 31170494
Funding provided by: East China University of Science and Technology
Crossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100003021
Award Number: DHBK2019103
Funding provided by: Flexpool grant*
Crossref Funder Registry ID:
Award Number: 34600565-11
Funding provided by: NA*
Crossref Funder Registry ID:
Award Number: PICT-2014-1109
Funding provided by: NA*
Crossref Funder Registry ID:
Award Number: UBACyT-20020170100191BA
Funding provided by: NA*
Crossref Funder Registry ID:
Award Number: UBACyT-20020190100212BA
Funding provided by: Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL
Crossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100015742
Award Number: visiting research fellowship
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Additional details
Related works
- Is source of
- 10.5061/dryad.w0vt4b8x1 (DOI)