NDLI: Scale-dependent patterns and mechanisms of grazing-induced biodiversity loss: evidence from a field manipulation experiment in semiarid steppe

Content Provider	Springer Nature Link
Author	Li, Wenhuai Zhan, Shuxia Lan, Zhichun Ben Wu, X. Bai, Yongfei
Copyright Year	2015
Abstract	Although many studies have demonstrated that grazing may increase or decrease plant diversity of grasslands at small scales, few studies have examined the patterns and mechanisms of grazing effects on biodiversity across multiple scales.Our study tested the scale dependence of grazing effects on plant diversity based a 7-year grazing manipulation experiment with seven levels of grazing intensity (0–9 sheep ha$^{−1}$) in a typical steppe of the Inner Mongolia grassland.Species area relationships (SARs) were used to analyze the scale dependence of species loss. SAR decomposition approaches were followed to examine the contribution of four potential mechanisms to changes in the slope of SARs, including species aggregation, overall species richness, total number of individuals, and species abundance distribution.The proportional species loss increased with sampling area (4–1024 m$^{2}$), which was evidenced by decreasing intercepts and slopes of SARs with grazing. Reduction in the slope of SARs was mainly caused by changes in overall species richness and species abundance distribution, with the relative minor effect of changes in number of individuals.The negative effect of grazing on overall species richness was mainly attributed to the loss of grazing-sensitive rare species from species pool. Compared with flat systems, plant diversity in slope systems was more sensitive to grazing at low intensities. However, the responses of plant diversity to grazing tended to converge between the flat and slope systems at high levels of grazing intensity. Our study has important implications for adaptive ecosystem management and biodiversity conservation in arid and semiarid grasslands.
Starting Page	1751
Ending Page	1765
Page Count	15
File Format	PDF
ISSN	09212973
Journal	Landscape Ecology
Volume Number	30
Issue Number	9
e-ISSN	15729761
Language	English
Publisher	Springer Netherlands
Publisher Date	2015-01-15
Publisher Place	Dordrecht
Access Restriction	Subscribed
Subject Keyword	Spatial scale Scaling effect Species richness Species-area relationship (SAR) SAR decomposition Rare species Species abundance distribution Landscape Ecology Plant Ecology Forestry Management Forestry Ecology Plant Sciences
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article
Subject	Geography, Planning and Development Ecology Nature and Landscape Conservation

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