Competing consumers: contrasting the patterns and impacts of fire and mammalian herbivory in Africa

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences - Tập 371 Số 1703 - Trang 20150309 - 2016
Sally Archibald1,2, Gareth P. Hempson1
1Centre for African Ecology, School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag, Johannesburg, South Africa
2Natural Resources and the Environment, CSIR, PO Box 395, Pretoria 0001, South Africa

Tóm tắt

Fire and herbivory are the two consumers of above-ground biomass globally. They have contrasting impacts as they differ in terms of selectivity and temporal occurrence. Here, we integrate continental-scale data on fire and herbivory in Africa to explore (i) how environmental drivers constrain these two consumers and (ii) the degree to which each consumer affects the other. Environments conducive to mammalian herbivory are not necessarily the same as those conducive to fire, although their spheres of influence do overlap—especially in grassy ecosystems which are known for their frequent fires and abundance of large mammalian herbivores. Interactions between fire and herbivory can be competitive, facultative or antagonistic, and we explore this with reference to the potential for alternative ecosystem states. Although fire removes orders of magnitude more biomass than herbivory their methane emissions are very similar, and in the past, herbivores probably emitted more methane than fire. We contrast the type of herbivory and fire in different ecosystems to define ‘consumer-realms’.This article is part of the themed issue ‘Tropical grassy biomes: linking ecology, human use and conservation’.

Từ khóa


Tài liệu tham khảo

10.2307/1310789

Olff H, 1998, Effects of herbivores on grassland plant diversity, TREE, 13, 261

10.1017/CBO9781139033091

10.1126/science.1163886

10.1126/science.1205106

10.1111/j.1365-2699.2011.02595.x

10.1038/nature13946

Le Page Y, 2010, Seasonality of vegetation fires as modified by human action: observing the deviation from eco-climatic fire regimes, Glob. Ecol. Biogeogr, 19, 575, 10.1111/j.1466-8238.2010.00525.x

10.1073/pnas.1211466110

10.1126/science.1069349

10.1126/science.1251817

10.1126/science.aac7978

10.1016/j.tree.2009.03.006

10.5194/acp-6-3423-2006

10.1126/science.1210465

10.1111/j.1466-8238.2007.00325.x

10.1111/j.1365-2699.2011.02524.x

10.1111/j.1365-2486.2008.01754.x

10.1029/2011GB004249

10.1111/j.1469-8137.2004.01252.x

Bowman D. 2000 Australian rainforests: islands of green in a land of fire . Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press.

10.1111/j.1461-0248.2012.01789.x

10.5194/bg-13-3359-2016

10.1111/j.1365-2486.2008.01838.x

10.1111/nph.13485

10.1111/j.1469-8137.2012.04202.x

10.1111/geb.12313

10.1086/282146

10.2307/3546565

Bond WJ, 2005, Large parts of the world are brown or black: a different view on the ‘Green World’ hypothesis, J. Veg. Sci, 16, 261

10.1126/science.1179504

10.1126/science.1214261

10.1111/j.1469-8137.2011.03689.x

10.1111/ele.12537

10.2307/3543832

10.1073/pnas.0810637106

10.2307/5037

10.1098/rstb.2015.0437

10.1073/pnas.1211466110

10.5194/bg-7-1171-2010

10.1371/journal.pone.0096084

10.1098/rstb.2015.0169

10.1023/A:1004753406424

10.4102/abc.v13i3/4.1360

10.2307/3809097

10.1641/0006-3568(2004)054[0677:EOIAPO]2.0.CO;2

Bakker ES, 2015, Combining paleo-data and modern exclosure experiments to assess the impact of megafauna extinctions on woody vegetation, Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA, 113, 201502545

10.1111/j.0030-1299.2008.16515.x

10.1890/09-0431.1

10.1016/j.tree.2005.04.025

10.1086/284321

10.1071/AR9730809

10.1086/283902

10.1890/09-1673.1

10.1071/WF9980227

10.1111/gcb.12973

10.1029/1999JD900091

10.1111/j.1365-2486.2005.001024.x

10.1111/j.1365-2664.2006.01184.x

10.1111/nph.13372

10.1038/nrmicro3182

10.1890/09-1843.1

10.1111/j.1466-8238.2009.00512.x

10.1016/j.scitotenv.2011.05.032

10.1111/geb.12043

10.1111/j.1365-2028.1984.tb00700.x

10.1890/1051-0761(1999)009[0798:OTRONC]2.0.CO;2

10.1017/CBO9780511565472

Bell RHV, 1982, Ecology of tropical savannas

10.1890/14-1495.1

10.1111/j.1442-9993.2011.02324.x

10.1890/10-1684.1

10.1016/j.ppees.2011.04.004

10.1890/0012-9658(2007)88[200:BLROAN]2.0.CO;2

10.1086/520120

10.1111/ecog.00534

10.1007/s10980-005-0247-2

10.1080/02566702.1989.9648157

10.1007/BF00317694

10.1111/j.1365-2486.2006.01288.x

10.1071/WF03070

10.2307/2426430

10.1890/03-5210

10.1890/0012-9658(2006)87[2058:SIOFAG]2.0.CO;2

10.2307/1933504

10.1890/08-1907.1

Trollope WSW, 1974, Role of fire in preventing bush encroachment in the Eastern Cape, Proc. Annu. Congr. Grassl. Soc. S. Afr., 9, 67

10.1111/j.1365-2664.2004.00864.x

10.1007/978-94-009-1499-5

10.1890/06-1664

10.1007/s10980-014-0087-y

10.1890/0012-9658(2003)084[0337:EOFAHO]2.0.CO;2

10.1034/j.1600-0706.2003.12181.x

10.1016/j.sajb.2015.05.005

10.1046/j.1365-2028.2001.00319.x

10.1046/j.1365-2699.2001.00506.x

10.1073/pnas.1118648109

10.1007/s10021-007-9109-9

10.1016/j.jenvman.2005.04.003

10.2307/3801716

10.1890/14-1501.1

Owen-Smith RN, 2002, Adaptive herbivore ecology: from resources to populations in variable environments, 244, 10.1017/CBO9780511525605

Hempson GP, 2014, Ecology of grazing lawns in Africa, Biol. Rev, 90, 979994

10.1080/02566702.1989.9648180

Owen-Smith N, 2002, Adaptive herbivore ecology—from resources to populations in variable environments, 162, 10.1017/CBO9780511525605.008

10.1086/284839

10.2307/1313492

10.1674/0003-0031-163.2.351

10.1007/s10021-007-9109-9

10.1038/35098000

10.2307/2258730

Norton-Griffiths M, 1979, Serengeti: dynamics of an ecosystem, 310

Holdo RM Sinclair ARE Dobson AP Metzger KL Bolker BM Ritchie ME Holt RD. 2009 A disease-mediated trophic cascade in the Serengeti and its implications for ecosystem C. PLoS Biol. 7 e1000210. (doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1000210)

10.1017/CBO9780511565441

10.5194/bg-11-7305-2014

10.1890/120251

Kump LR. 1988 Terrestrial feedback in atmospheric oxygen regulation by fire and phosphorus. Nature 335 152–154. (doi:10.1038/335152a0)

10.1371/journal.pone.0071352

10.2307/1941109

10.2307/1942578

10.1641/0006-3568(2002)052[0891:THFATL]2.0.CO;2

10.1175/JHM560.1

Fischer G, 2008, Global agro-ecological zones assessment for agriculture (GAEZ 2008)

10.5194/acpd-10-16153-2010

Dong H, 2006, 2006 IPCC guidelines for national greenhouse gas inventories

10.1111/1365-2745.12118

Du Toit J, 2003, The Kruger experience: ecology and management of savanna heterogeneity

10.2989/10220110209485773

10.1098/rstb.2015.0346

10.1890/09-1489.1

10.1111/j.1461-0248.2012.01842.x

10.1071/BT09034

10.1111/j.1365-2745.2009.01493.x

10.2307/2261500

10.1111/1365-2745.12326

Thông tin
Thông tin xuất bản

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

Tập 371 Số 1703

20150309

Thông tin tác giả