Effects of Different Livestock Grazing on Foliar Fungal Diseases in an Alpine Grassland on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.

ABSTRACT: In grassland ecosystems, the occurrence and transmission of foliar fungal diseases are largely dependent on grazing by large herbivores. However, whether herbivores that have different body sizes differentially impact foliar fungal diseases remains largely unexplored. Thus, we conducted an 8-year grazing experiment in an alpine grassland on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in China and tested how different types of livestock (sheep (Ovis aries), yak (Bos grunniens), or both)) affected foliar fungal diseases at the levels of both plant population and community. At the population level, grazing by a single species (yak or sheep) or mixed species (sheep and yak) significantly decreased the severity of eight leaf spot diseases. Similarly, at the community level, both single species (yak

SUBMITTER: Tian Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10533196 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature