Plant-Herbivore Interactions

• To a casual observer, the importance of large herbivores for ecosystem structure and dynamics can seem more obvious in African savannas than in many other ecosystems because of their high abundance, diversity and species richness of ungulates. African savannas have also had a long uninterrupted history of mammalian herbivory, leading to the evolution of plant traits adapted to herbivory and to reciprocal traits in herbivores. In nutrient-poor savannas such as those on Kalahari sand in the Chobe National Park, Botswana, elephants, Loxodonta africana, are a main agent creating spatial and temporal variation in the vegetation and ecosystems. Within this framework, elephants and smaller herbivores interact with individual plants and plant populations, exploiting and modifying heterogeneity at many scales. Intermittent grazing in systems of migratory or highly mobile herbivores provides food plants with a recovery period, and could be one reason for the 'success' and abundance of many migratory herbivore species.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Ekologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Ecology (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Evolutionsbiologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Evolutionary Biology (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Elephants

Herbivory

Migratory system

Plant traits

Plant-herbivore interactions

Ungulates

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