Herbivores and nutrients control grassland plant diversity via light limitation

Elizabeth T. Borer (), Eric W. Seabloom, Daniel S. Gruner, W. Stanley Harpole, Helmut Hillebrand, Eric M. Lind, Peter B. Adler, Juan Alberti, T. Michael Anderson, Jonathan D. Bakker, Lori Biederman, Dana Blumenthal, Cynthia S. Brown, Lars A. Brudvig, Yvonne M. Buckley, Marc Cadotte, Chengjin Chu, Elsa E. Cleland, Michael J. Crawley, Pedro Daleo, Ellen I. Damschen, Kendi F. Davies, Nicole M. DeCrappeo, Guozhen Du, Jennifer Firn, Yann Hautier, Robert W. Heckman, Andy Hector, Janneke HilleRisLambers, Oscar Iribarne, Julia A. Klein, Johannes M. H. Knops, Kimberly J. La Pierre, Andrew D. B. Leakey, Wei Li, Andrew S. MacDougall, Rebecca L. McCulley, Brett A. Melbourne, Charles E. Mitchell, Joslin L. Moore, Brent Mortensen, Lydia R. O'Halloran, John L. Orrock, Jesús Pascual, Suzanne M. Prober, David A. Pyke, Anita C. Risch, Martin Schuetz, Melinda D. Smith, Carly J. Stevens, Lauren L. Sullivan, Ryan J. Williams, Peter D. Wragg, Justin P. Wright and Louie H. Yang
Additional contact information
Elizabeth T. Borer: Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota
Eric W. Seabloom: Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota
Daniel S. Gruner: University of Maryland, College Park
W. Stanley Harpole: Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University
Helmut Hillebrand: Institute for Chemistry and Biology of the Marine Environment, Carl-von- Ossietzky University, 26382 Wilhelmshaven, Oldenburg, Germany
Eric M. Lind: Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota
Peter B. Adler: Utah State University
Juan Alberti: Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras (IIMyC), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Mar del Plata 7600 , Argentina
T. Michael Anderson: Wake Forest University
Jonathan D. Bakker: School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington
Lori Biederman: Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University
Dana Blumenthal: Agricultural Research Service (ARS)
Cynthia S. Brown: Deptartment of Forest, Rangeland and Watershed Stewardship, Colorado State University
Lars A. Brudvig: Michigan State University
Yvonne M. Buckley: ARC Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions, School of Biological Sciences, The University of Queensland, Queensland 4072, Australia
Marc Cadotte: University of Toronto Scarborough, Ontario M1C 1A4, Canada
Chengjin Chu: State Key Laboratory of Grassland and Agro-Ecosystems, Research Station of Alpine Meadow and Wetland Ecosystems, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000 Gansu, China
Elsa E. Cleland: University of California
Michael J. Crawley: Imperial College at Silwood Park, Ascot, Berkshire SL5 7PY, UK
Pedro Daleo: Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras (IIMyC), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Mar del Plata 7600 , Argentina
Ellen I. Damschen: University of Wisconsin
Kendi F. Davies: University of Colorado, Boulder Colorado 80309, USA
Nicole M. DeCrappeo: US Geological Survey, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center
Guozhen Du: State Key Laboratory of Grassland and Agro-Ecosystems, Research Station of Alpine Meadow and Wetland Ecosystems, School of Life Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou, 730000 Gansu, China
Jennifer Firn: Queensland University of Technology, Biogeosciences
Yann Hautier: Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota
Robert W. Heckman: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Andy Hector: University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3RB, UK
Janneke HilleRisLambers: School of Environmental and Forest Sciences, University of Washington
Oscar Iribarne: Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras (IIMyC), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Mar del Plata 7600 , Argentina
Julia A. Klein: Deptartment of Forest, Rangeland and Watershed Stewardship, Colorado State University
Johannes M. H. Knops: School of Biological Sciences, University of Nebraska
Kimberly J. La Pierre: Berkeley Initiative for Global Change Biology, University of California
Andrew D. B. Leakey: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Wei Li: Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University
Andrew S. MacDougall: University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1, Canada
Rebecca L. McCulley: University of Kentucky
Brett A. Melbourne: University of Colorado, Boulder Colorado 80309, USA
Charles E. Mitchell: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Joslin L. Moore: Australian Research Center for Urban Ecology, c/o School of Botany, University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia, and School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Victoria 3800, Australia
Brent Mortensen: Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University
Lydia R. O'Halloran: Oregon State University
John L. Orrock: University of Wisconsin
Jesús Pascual: Instituto de Investigaciones Marinas y Costeras (IIMyC), Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Mar del Plata 7600 , Argentina
Suzanne M. Prober: CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences, Wembley, West Australia 6913, Australia
David A. Pyke: US Geological Survey, Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center
Anita C. Risch: Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Birmensdorf 8903, Switzerland
Martin Schuetz: Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Birmensdorf 8903, Switzerland
Melinda D. Smith: Deptartment of Forest, Rangeland and Watershed Stewardship, Colorado State University
Carly J. Stevens: Lancaster Environment Center, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YQ, UK
Lauren L. Sullivan: Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University
Ryan J. Williams: Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University
Peter D. Wragg: Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota
Justin P. Wright: Duke University
Louie H. Yang: University of California

Nature, 2014, vol. 508, issue 7497, 517-520

Abstract: Experimental data collected from 40 grasslands on 6 continents show that nutrients and herbivores can serve as counteracting forces to control local plant diversity; nutrient addition reduces local diversity through light limitation, and herbivory rescues diversity at sites where it alleviates light limitation.

Date: 2014
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DOI: 10.1038/nature13144

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