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Contributed Talk

Session: : Ecosystem Stability And Resilience 3

COS 217-5 - Species traits and herbivory jointly shape temporal stability of plant populations

Wednesday, August 9, 2023
4:30 PM – 4:45 PM PDT
Location: D139
Abstract: Herbivory is a key biotic process that shapes the temporal dynamics of plant species, with ultimate consequences for ecosystem stability. By foraging on plants as they reach higher abundance, herbivores can dampen population fluctuations through time. These outcomes for plant temporal stability may, in turn, vary in strength among the members of plant communities: for example, plant species vary in quality to herbivores, with faster-growing, ‘resource acquisitive’ species high in nitrogen or water content often experiencing greater herbivore pressure. In contrast, slower-growing ‘resource-conservative’ species, which often have greater investment in traits that protect against both biotic and abiotic stressors, are less palatable and avoided. In addition to leaf-level traits, plants that are more locally abundant may also receive greater herbivory if herbivores forage in a density-dependent manner among plant species; thus, local abundance (e.g. dominance) and resource-use traits may jointly shape herbivore effects. Here, we ask how herbivores and plant traits jointly shape temporal stability of plant species within communities, using herbivore exclusion plots distributed across the globe (data from The Nutrient Network).



We quantify temporal stability of 1165 plant species sampled from 86 local plant communities, comparing populations in herbivore exclusion plots to those experiencing vertebrate herbivory. Plant populations were observed for between 3 and 16 years. We collected plant trait data from Nutrient Network collaborators, the Global Plant Traits Database (TRY), and the Botanical Information and Ecology Network (BIEN). We then ask whether plant species’ traits, plant relatedness (phylogeny), and local abundance may be used to predict the stabilizing or destabilizing effects of herbivory.



Consistent with other studies, herbivores have a positive effect on plant stability. On average among all plant species, herbivores increase stability of individual plant species by 30%. However, we found that not all plant species are equally stabilized by herbivores. Specifically, plants with lower LDMC have greater temporal stability when herbivores are present, while those with higher LDMC have similar temporal dynamics with or without herbivores. No other leaf trait was predictive of the effect of herbivore effects. There was strong phylogenetic signal in the effect of herbivores on plant temporal stability, corroborating importance of phylogenetically conserved plant traits. We also found a strong effect of plant dominance (e.g. relative abundance) on the strength of herbivory, with more abundant plant species experiencing a stronger stabilizing effect. Thus, plant traits provide a filter through which herbivores stabilize plant species, jointly shaping ecosystem-level outcomes.