TY - JOUR
T1 - Meta-analysis shows that wild large herbivores shape ecosystem properties and promote spatial heterogeneity
AU - Trepel, Jonas
AU - le Roux, Elizabeth
AU - Abraham, Andrew J.
AU - Buitenwerf, Robert
AU - Kamp, Johannes
AU - Kristensen, Jeppe A.
AU - Tietje, Melanie
AU - Lundgren, Erick J.
AU - Svenning, Jens Christian
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited 2024.\.
PY - 2024/4
Y1 - 2024/4
N2 - Megafauna (animals ≥45 kg) have probably shaped the Earth’s terrestrial ecosystems for millions of years with pronounced impacts on biogeochemistry, vegetation, ecological communities and evolutionary processes. However, a quantitative global synthesis on the generality of megafauna effects on ecosystems is lacking. Here we conducted a meta-analysis of 297 studies and 5,990 individual observations across six continents to determine how wild herbivorous megafauna influence ecosystem structure, ecological processes and spatial heterogeneity, and whether these impacts depend on body size and environmental factors. Despite large variability in megafauna effects, we show that megafauna significantly alter soil nutrient availability, promote open vegetation structure and reduce the abundance of smaller animals. Other responses (14 out of 26), including, for example, soil carbon, were not significantly affected. Further, megafauna significantly increase ecosystem heterogeneity by affecting spatial heterogeneity in vegetation structure and the abundance and diversity of smaller animals. Given that spatial heterogeneity is considered an important driver of biodiversity across taxonomic groups and scales, these results support the hypothesis that megafauna may promote biodiversity at large scales. Megafauna declined precipitously in diversity and abundance since the late Pleistocene, and our results indicate that their restoration would substantially influence Earth’s terrestrial ecosystems.
AB - Megafauna (animals ≥45 kg) have probably shaped the Earth’s terrestrial ecosystems for millions of years with pronounced impacts on biogeochemistry, vegetation, ecological communities and evolutionary processes. However, a quantitative global synthesis on the generality of megafauna effects on ecosystems is lacking. Here we conducted a meta-analysis of 297 studies and 5,990 individual observations across six continents to determine how wild herbivorous megafauna influence ecosystem structure, ecological processes and spatial heterogeneity, and whether these impacts depend on body size and environmental factors. Despite large variability in megafauna effects, we show that megafauna significantly alter soil nutrient availability, promote open vegetation structure and reduce the abundance of smaller animals. Other responses (14 out of 26), including, for example, soil carbon, were not significantly affected. Further, megafauna significantly increase ecosystem heterogeneity by affecting spatial heterogeneity in vegetation structure and the abundance and diversity of smaller animals. Given that spatial heterogeneity is considered an important driver of biodiversity across taxonomic groups and scales, these results support the hypothesis that megafauna may promote biodiversity at large scales. Megafauna declined precipitously in diversity and abundance since the late Pleistocene, and our results indicate that their restoration would substantially influence Earth’s terrestrial ecosystems.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85184479264&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41559-024-02327-6
DO - 10.1038/s41559-024-02327-6
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 38337048
AN - SCOPUS:85184479264
SN - 2397-334X
VL - 8
SP - 705
EP - 716
JO - Nature Ecology & Evolution
JF - Nature Ecology & Evolution
IS - 4
ER -