1. //
  2. Start
  3. //
  4. Publications
  5. //
  6. Forb diversity globally is harmed by nut...
  7. //

Forb diversity globally is harmed by nutrient enrichment but can be rescued by large mammalian herbivory

Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

Authors

  • Rebecca A. Nelson
  • Lauren L. Sullivan
  • Erika I. Hersch-Green
  • Eric W. Seabloom
  • Elizabeth T. Borer
  • Pedro M. Tognetti
  • Peter B. Adler
  • Lori Biederman
  • Miguel N. Bugalho
  • Maria C. Caldeira
  • Juan P. Cancela
  • Luísa G. Carvalheiro
  • Jane A. Catford
  • Chris R. Dickman
  • Aleksandra J. Dolezal
  • Ian Donohue
  • Anne Ebeling
  • Nico Eisenhauer
  • Kenneth J. Elgersma
  • Anu Eskelinen
  • Catalina Estrada
  • Magda Garbowski
  • Pamela Graff
  • Daniel S. Gruner
  • Nicole Hagenah
  • W. Stanley Harpole
  • Yann Hautier
  • Anke Jentsch
  • Nicolina Johanson
  • Sally E. Koerner
  • Lucíola S. Lannes
  • Andrew S. MacDougall
  • Holly Martinson
  • John W. Morgan
  • Harry Olde Venterink
  • Devyn Orr
  • Brooke B. Osborne
  • Pablo L. Peri
  • Sally A. Power
  • Xavier Raynaud
  • Anita C. Risch
  • Mani Shrestha
  • Nicholas G. Smith
  • Carly J. Stevens
  • G. F.Ciska Veen
  • Risto Virtanen
  • Glenda M. Wardle
  • Amelia A. Wolf
  • Alyssa L. Young
  • Susan P. Harrison

Forbs (“wildflowers”) are important contributors to grassland biodiversity but are vulnerable to environmental changes. In a factorial experiment at 94 sites on 6 continents, we test the global generality of several broad predictions: (1) Forb cover and richness decline under nutrient enrichment, particularly nitrogen enrichment. (2) Forb cover and richness increase under herbivory by large mammals. (3) Forb richness and cover are less affected by nutrient enrichment and herbivory in more arid climates, because water limitation reduces the impacts of competition with grasses. (4) Forb families will respond differently to nutrient enrichment and mammalian herbivory due to differences in nutrient requirements. We find strong evidence for the first, partial support for the second, no support for the third, and support for the fourth prediction. Our results underscore that anthropogenic nitrogen addition is a major threat to grassland forbs, but grazing under high herbivore intensity can offset these nutrient effects.

Original languageEnglish
Article number444
JournalCommunications Biology
Volume8
Issue number1
Number of pages10
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 12.2025

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2025.

Related by journal

Lessons from Ethiopian coffee landscapes for global conservation in a post-wild world

Hylander, K., Nemomissa, S., Fischer, J., Zewdie, B., Ayalew, B. & Tack, A. J. M., 12.2024, In: Communications Biology. 7, 1, 13 p., 714.

Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

Future-proofing ecosystem restoration through enhancing adaptive capacity

Frietsch, M., Loos, J., Löhr, K., Sieber, S. & Fischer, J., 12.2023, In: Communications Biology. 6, 1, 9 p., 377.

Research output: Journal contributions › Scientific review articles › Research

Other publications by the same author(s)

Assessment of genetic diversity among seed transfer zones for multiple grassland plant species across Germany

Durka, W., Michalski, S. G., Höfner, J., Bucharova, A., Kolář, F., Müller, C. M., Oberprieler, C., Šemberová, K., Bauer, M., Bernt, M., Bleeker, W., Brändel, S., Bucher, S. F., Eibes, P. M., Ewald, M., Goldberg, R., Grant, K., Haider, S., Harpke, A., Haun, F., Kaufmann, R., Korell, L., Kunzmann, D., Lauterbach, D., Leib, S., Lenzewski, N., Loritz, H., Madaj, A. M., Mainz, A. K., Meinecke, P., Mertens, H., Meyer, M. H., Musche, M., Ristow, M., Rosche, C., Roscher, C., Rutte, D., Schacherer, A., Schmidt, W., Schmoldt, J., Schneider, S., Schwarz, J. H., Skowronek, S., Socher, S. A., Stanik, N., Twerski, A., Weiß, K., Weiß, M., Wille, A., Zehm, A. & Zidorn, C., 05.2025, In: Basic and Applied Ecology. 84, p. 50-60 11 p.

Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

Successful Alien Plant Species Exhibit Functional Dissimilarity From Natives Under Varied Climatic Conditions but Not Under Increased Nutrient Availability

Milanović, M., Bakker, J. D., Biederman, L., Borer, E. T., Catford, J. A., Cleland, E., Hagenah, N., Haider, S., Harpole, W. S., Komatsu, K., MacDougall, A. S., Römermann, C., Seabloom, E. W., Knapp, S. & Kühn, I., 01.03.2025, In: Journal of Vegetation Science. 36, 2, 12 p., e70032.

Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

Africa’s mountainous islands: archipelagos of fire, water, and problem species

Clark, V. R., Ah-Peng, C., Arévalo, J. R., Backes, A. R., Rouget, M., Martin, G. & Haider, S., 01.01.2024, Safeguarding Mountain Social-Ecological Systems, Vol 2: Building Transformative Resilience in Mountain Regions Worldwide. Schneiderbauer, S., Schroder, J. F., Pisa, P. F. & Szarzynski, J. (eds.). Elsevier, Vol. 2. p. 129-149 21 p.

Research output: Contributions to collected editions/works › Chapter › peer-review

Author Correction: Widening global variability in grassland biomass since the 1980s

MacDougall, A. S., Esch, E., Chen, Q., Carroll, O., Bonner, C., Ohlert, T., Siewert, M., Sulik, J., Schweiger, A. K., Borer, E. T., Naidu, D., Bagchi, S., Hautier, Y., Wilfahrt, P., Larson, K., Olofsson, J., Cleland, E., Muthukrishnan, R., O’Halloran, L., Alberti, J., Anderson, T. M., Arnillas, C. A., Bakker, J. D., Barrio, I. C., Biederman, L., Boughton, E. H., Brudvig, L. A., Bruschetti, M., Buckley, Y., Bugalho, M. N., Cadotte, M. W., Caldeira, M. C., Catford, J. A., D’Antonio, C., Davies, K., Daleo, P., Dickman, C. R., Donohue, I., DuPre, M. E., Elgersma, K., Eisenhauer, N., Eskelinen, A., Estrada, C., Fay, P. A., Feng, Y., Gruner, D. S., Hagenah, N., Haider, S., Harpole, W. S., Hersch-Green, E., Jentsch, A., Kirkman, K., Knops, J. M. H., Laanisto, L., Lannes, L. S., Laungani, R., Lkhagva, A., Macek, P., Martina, J. P., McCulley, R. L., Melbourne, B., Mitchell, R., Moore, J. L., Morgan, J. W., Muraina, T. O., Niu, Y., Pärtel, M., Peri, P. L., Power, S. A., Price, J. N., Prober, S. M., Ren, Z., Risch, A. C., Smith, N. G., Sonnier, G., Standish, R. J., Stevens, C. J., Tedder, M., Tognetti, P., Veen, G. F., Virtanen, R., Wardle, G. M., Waring, E., Wolf, A. A., Yahdjian, L. & Seabloom, E. W., 01.10.2024, In: Nature Ecology and Evolution. 8, 10, p. 2003 1 p.

Research output: Journal contributions › Other (editorial matter etc.) › Research

Colonization and extinction lags drive non-linear responses to warming in mountain plant communities across the Northern Hemisphere

Bektaş, B., Chisholm, C., Egelkraut, D., Lynn, J., Block, S., Deola, T., Dommanget, F., Enquist, B. J., Goldberg, D. E., Haider, S., Halbritter, A. H., He, Y., Jaunatre, R., Jentsch, A., Klanderud, K., Kardol, P., Lachmuth, S., Loucougaray, G., Münkemüller, T., Niedrist, G., Nomoto, H., Seltzer, L., Paul Töpper, J., Rew, L. J., Seipel, T., Shah, M. A., James Telford, R., Walker, T. W. N., Wang, S., Wardle, D. A., Wolff, P., Yang, Y., Vandvik, V. & Alexander, J. M., 20.11.2024, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Ecography. 15 p., e07378.

Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review

DOI