UAV reveals substantial but heterogeneous effects of herbivores on Arctic vegetation.

ABSTRACT: Understanding how herbivores shape plant biomass and distribution is a core challenge in ecology. Yet, the lack of suitable remote sensing technology limits our knowledge of temporal and spatial impacts of mammal herbivores in the Earth system. The regular interannual density fluctuations of voles and lemmings are exceptional with their large reduction of plant biomass in Arctic landscapes during peak years (12-24%) as previously shown at large spatial scales using satellites. This provides evidence that herbivores are important drivers of observed global changes in vegetation productivity. Here, we use a novel approach with repeated unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flights, to map vegetation impact by rodents, indicating that many important aspects of vegetation dynamics otherwise hidden by

SUBMITTER: Siewert MB 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8484448 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature