Plant trait responses to grazing – a global synthesis

Abstract Herbivory by domestic and wild ungulates is a major driver of global vegetation dynamics. However, grazing is not considered in dynamic global vegetation models, or more generally in studies of the effects of environmental change on ecosystems at regional to global scale. An obstacle to this is a lack of empirical tests of several hypotheses linking plant traits with grazing. We, therefore, set out to test whether some widely recognized trait responses to grazing are consistent at the global level. We conducted a meta‐analysis of plant trait responses to grazing, based on 197 studies from all major regions of the world, and using six major conceptual models of trait response to grazing as a framework.…

• NS
  National Science Foundation

  Awards: 0087255, 0217631
• CS
  Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
• CN
  Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas
• CN
  Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
• FP
  Fondo para la Investigación Científica y Tecnológica