Grazing halos reveal differential ecosystem vulnerabilities in vegetated habitats.

ABSTRACT: The dynamic balance between primary production and herbivory is key to the resilience of plant-dominated ecosystems across the world. However, many vegetated ecosystems are becoming increasingly susceptible to herbivore-triggered collapses, as this balance is disrupted due to predator declines, increasing nutrients, and other interacting impacts of global change. Yet without accessible, cost-effective tools to evaluate the production-consumption relationship, it is difficult to know how close an ecosystem is to imminent overgrazing collapse. Here, we explore the effectiveness of individually formed sea urchin grazing halos as robust indicators of marine habitat vulnerability to overgrazing. Halos are grazed patches of bare rock on macrophyte-dominated substrates that represent the balance

SUBMITTER: Minguito-Frutos M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12590193 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature