Large herbivores facilitate an insect herbivore by modifying plant community composition in a temperate grassland.

ABSTRACT: Large herbivores often co-occur and share plant resources with herbivorous insects in grassland ecosystems; yet, how they interact with each other remains poorly understood. We conducted a series of field experiments to investigate whether and how large domestic herbivores (sheep; Ovis aries) may affect the abundance of a common herbivorous insect (aphid; Hyalopterus pruni) in a temperate grassland of northeast China. Our exclosure experiment showed that 3 years (2010-2012) of sheep grazing had led to 86% higher aphid abundance compared with ungrazed sites. Mechanistically, this facilitative effect was driven by grazing altering the plant community, rather than by changes in food availability and predator abundance for aphids. Sheep significantly altered plant community by re

SUBMITTER: Li X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8601924 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature