Trade-offs between deer herbivory and nitrogen competition alter grassland forb composition.

ABSTRACT: Two of the major factors that control the composition of herbaceous plant communities are competition for limiting soil resources and herbivory. We present results from a 14-year full factorial experiment in a tallgrass prairie ecosystem that crossed nitrogen (N) addition with fencing to exclude white-tailed deer, Odocoileus virginianus, from half the plots. Deer presence was associated with only modest decreases in aboveground plant biomass (14% decrease; -45 ± 19 g m^-2) with no interaction with N addition. N addition at 5.44 and 9.52 g N m^-2 year^-1 led to increases in biomass. There were weak increases in species richness associated with deer presence, but only for no or low added N (1 and 2 g N m^-2 year^-1). However, the presence of

SUBMITTER: Furey GN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10830730 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature