Functional Traits – Not Nativenes – Shape the Effects Of Large Mammalian Herbivores on Plant Communities
For decades the assumption shared by conservation dogma and Invasive Species “Biology” has been that non-native animals – by definition – harm native habitat and plants. This belief is often used to justify the ongoing War on Wildlife.
The authors of this scholarly work disagree. They say it’s what animals do, not where they come from, that matters: “Our work suggests that trait-based ecology provides better insight into interactions between megafauna and plants than do concepts of nativeness.”
They found that non-native large animals can be very good for habitat, because as they say, “bulk-feeding megafauna promote plant diversity.”
Pig eradication advocates might take note of this finding: “Feral pigs often increase plant diversity, at times doubling native plant diversity by suppressing competitive dominants.”
NOTE: the paper below was originally published to Science.org
Large mammalian herbivores (megafauna) have experienced extinctions and declines since prehistory.
Introduced megafauna have partly counteracted these losses yet are thought to have unusually negative effects on plants compared with native megafauna. Using a meta-analysis of 3995 plot-scale plant abundance and diversity responses from 221 studies, we found no evidence that megafauna impacts were shaped by nativeness, “invasiveness,” “feralness,” coevolutionary history, or functional and phylogenetic novelty. Nor was there evidence that introduced megafauna facilitate introduced plants more than native megafauna. Instead, we found strong evidence that functional traits shaped megafauna impacts, with larger-bodied and bulk-feeding megafauna promoting plant diversity. Our work suggests that trait-based ecology provides better insight into interactions between megafauna and plants than do concepts of nativeness.
(available here-> )
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