Megaherbivores provide biotic resistance against alien plant dominance

Ninad Avinash Mungi; Yadvendradev V. Jhala; Qamar Qureshi; Elizabeth le Roux; Jens Christian Svenning

doi:10.1038/s41559-023-02181-y

Megaherbivores provide biotic resistance against alien plant dominance

Ninad Avinash Mungi^*, Yadvendradev V. Jhala, Qamar Qureshi, Elizabeth le Roux, Jens Christian Svenning

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Biology - Center for Ecological Dynamics in a Novel Biosphere (ECONOVO)
Department of Biology - Center for Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World

Research output: Contribution to journal/Conference contribution in journal/Contribution to newspaper › Journal article › Research › peer-review

Abstract

While human-driven biological invasions are rapidly spreading, finding scalable and effective control methods poses an unresolved challenge. Here, we assess whether megaherbivores—herbivores reaching ≥1,000 kg of body mass—offer a nature-based solution to plant invasions. Invasive plants are generally adapted to maximize vegetative growth. Megaherbivores, with broad dietary tolerances, could remove large biomass of established plants, facilitating new plant growth. We used a massive dataset obtained from 26,838 camera stations and 158,979 vegetation plots to assess the relationships between megaherbivores, native plants and alien plants across India (~121,330 km²). We found a positive relationship between megaherbivore abundance and native plant richness and abundance, and a concomitant reduction in alien plant abundance. This relationship was strongest in protected areas with midproductive ecosystem and high megaherbivore density but it was lost in areas where thicket-forming alien plants predominated (>40% cover). By incorporating the role of ecosystem productivity, plants traits and densities of megaherbivores on megaherbivore–vegetation relationships, our study highlights a function of megaherbivores in controlling alien plant proliferation and facilitating diverse native plants in invaded ecosystems. The study shows great potential for megafauna-based trophic rewilding as a nature-based solution to counteract dominance of plant invasions.

Original language	English
Journal	Nature Ecology & Evolution
Volume	7
Issue	10
Pages (from-to)	1645-1653
Number of pages	9
ISSN	2397-334X
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-02181-y
Publication status	Published - Oct 2023

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10.1038/s41559-023-02181-y

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title = "Megaherbivores provide biotic resistance against alien plant dominance",

abstract = "While human-driven biological invasions are rapidly spreading, finding scalable and effective control methods poses an unresolved challenge. Here, we assess whether megaherbivores—herbivores reaching ≥1,000 kg of body mass—offer a nature-based solution to plant invasions. Invasive plants are generally adapted to maximize vegetative growth. Megaherbivores, with broad dietary tolerances, could remove large biomass of established plants, facilitating new plant growth. We used a massive dataset obtained from 26,838 camera stations and 158,979 vegetation plots to assess the relationships between megaherbivores, native plants and alien plants across India (~121,330 km2). We found a positive relationship between megaherbivore abundance and native plant richness and abundance, and a concomitant reduction in alien plant abundance. This relationship was strongest in protected areas with midproductive ecosystem and high megaherbivore density but it was lost in areas where thicket-forming alien plants predominated (>40% cover). By incorporating the role of ecosystem productivity, plants traits and densities of megaherbivores on megaherbivore–vegetation relationships, our study highlights a function of megaherbivores in controlling alien plant proliferation and facilitating diverse native plants in invaded ecosystems. The study shows great potential for megafauna-based trophic rewilding as a nature-based solution to counteract dominance of plant invasions.",

author = "Mungi, {Ninad Avinash} and Jhala, {Yadvendradev V.} and Qamar Qureshi and {le Roux}, Elizabeth and Svenning, {Jens Christian}",

note = "Funding Information: We consider this work a contribution to the Danish National Research Foundation Center for Ecological Dynamics in a New Biosphere (ECONOVO) and J-CS{\textquoteright} VILLUM Investigator project {\textquoteleft}Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World{\textquoteright}. We thank National Tiger Conservation Authority, India, Wildlife Institute of India, Indian State Forest Departments, frontline forest staff and researchers for coordinating and participating in data collection. This work was supported by VILLUM Investigator project {\textquoteleft}Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World{\textquoteright} funded by VILLUM FONDEN (grant no. 16549 to J.-C.S.); Center for Ecological Dynamics in a New Biosphere (ECONOVO), funded by Danish National Research Foundation (grant no. DNRF173 to J.-C.S.); Independent Research Fund Denmark | Natural Sciences project MegaComplexity (grant no. 0135-00225B to J.-C.S.); and National Tiger Conservation Authority, New Delhi, India (Y.V.J. and Q.Q.). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.",

year = "2023",

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doi = "10.1038/s41559-023-02181-y",

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AU - Jhala, Yadvendradev V.

AU - Qureshi, Qamar

AU - le Roux, Elizabeth

AU - Svenning, Jens Christian

N1 - Funding Information: We consider this work a contribution to the Danish National Research Foundation Center for Ecological Dynamics in a New Biosphere (ECONOVO) and J-CS’ VILLUM Investigator project ‘Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World’. We thank National Tiger Conservation Authority, India, Wildlife Institute of India, Indian State Forest Departments, frontline forest staff and researchers for coordinating and participating in data collection. This work was supported by VILLUM Investigator project ‘Biodiversity Dynamics in a Changing World’ funded by VILLUM FONDEN (grant no. 16549 to J.-C.S.); Center for Ecological Dynamics in a New Biosphere (ECONOVO), funded by Danish National Research Foundation (grant no. DNRF173 to J.-C.S.); Independent Research Fund Denmark | Natural Sciences project MegaComplexity (grant no. 0135-00225B to J.-C.S.); and National Tiger Conservation Authority, New Delhi, India (Y.V.J. and Q.Q.). Publisher Copyright: © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.

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N2 - While human-driven biological invasions are rapidly spreading, finding scalable and effective control methods poses an unresolved challenge. Here, we assess whether megaherbivores—herbivores reaching ≥1,000 kg of body mass—offer a nature-based solution to plant invasions. Invasive plants are generally adapted to maximize vegetative growth. Megaherbivores, with broad dietary tolerances, could remove large biomass of established plants, facilitating new plant growth. We used a massive dataset obtained from 26,838 camera stations and 158,979 vegetation plots to assess the relationships between megaherbivores, native plants and alien plants across India (~121,330 km2). We found a positive relationship between megaherbivore abundance and native plant richness and abundance, and a concomitant reduction in alien plant abundance. This relationship was strongest in protected areas with midproductive ecosystem and high megaherbivore density but it was lost in areas where thicket-forming alien plants predominated (>40% cover). By incorporating the role of ecosystem productivity, plants traits and densities of megaherbivores on megaherbivore–vegetation relationships, our study highlights a function of megaherbivores in controlling alien plant proliferation and facilitating diverse native plants in invaded ecosystems. The study shows great potential for megafauna-based trophic rewilding as a nature-based solution to counteract dominance of plant invasions.

AB - While human-driven biological invasions are rapidly spreading, finding scalable and effective control methods poses an unresolved challenge. Here, we assess whether megaherbivores—herbivores reaching ≥1,000 kg of body mass—offer a nature-based solution to plant invasions. Invasive plants are generally adapted to maximize vegetative growth. Megaherbivores, with broad dietary tolerances, could remove large biomass of established plants, facilitating new plant growth. We used a massive dataset obtained from 26,838 camera stations and 158,979 vegetation plots to assess the relationships between megaherbivores, native plants and alien plants across India (~121,330 km2). We found a positive relationship between megaherbivore abundance and native plant richness and abundance, and a concomitant reduction in alien plant abundance. This relationship was strongest in protected areas with midproductive ecosystem and high megaherbivore density but it was lost in areas where thicket-forming alien plants predominated (>40% cover). By incorporating the role of ecosystem productivity, plants traits and densities of megaherbivores on megaherbivore–vegetation relationships, our study highlights a function of megaherbivores in controlling alien plant proliferation and facilitating diverse native plants in invaded ecosystems. The study shows great potential for megafauna-based trophic rewilding as a nature-based solution to counteract dominance of plant invasions.

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Megaherbivores provide biotic resistance against alien plant dominance

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