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1. Herbivory, intraspecific trait variability and back to herbivory

   https://doi.org/10.1111/oik.09054  

   Gorné, Lucas D.; Díaz, Sandra (April 2022, Oikos)
2. Disturbances in drylands: Interactions among herbivory, drought, and termite activity in savanna plant communities

   https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.70036  

   Wells, Harry_B_M; Kimuyu, Duncan_M; Odadi, Wilfred_O; Charles, Grace_K; Veblen, Kari_E; Porensky, Lauren_M; Riginos, Corinna; Ekadeli, Jackson; Namoni, Mathew; Ekeno, John; et al (April 2025, Journal of Ecology)

   Abstract Climate models predict increases in the frequency and intensity of extreme‐weather events. The impacts of these events may be modulated by biotic agents in unpredictable ways, yet few experiments cover sufficient spatiotemporal scales to measure the interactive effects of multiple extreme events.We used 15 years of a 28‐year experiment spanning several significant droughts to investigate how rainfall, large herbivores, and soil‐engineering termites affect understorey vegetation in a semi‐arid savanna.Herbivory was the dominant influence on community structure—decreasing cover, increasing species richness, and favouring occurrence of annuals relative to perennials—but these effects were contingent on rainfall and termitaria in non‐additive (hence unpredictable) ways.A separate experiment showed that resource enrichment, mimicking the effects of termitaria, does not straightforwardly compensate for top‐down effects of herbivory.Synthesis. Our study highlights the potency of top‐down forcing in African savannas. It suggests impressive robustness to drought and underscores the value of multi‐decadal experiments for studying interactions among multiple drivers of ecosystem dynamics. 

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3. Global Study of Plant‐Herbivore Interactions Reveals Similar Patterns of Herbivory Across Native and Non‐Native Plants

   https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.70196  

   Galmán, Andrea; Hahn, Philip G; Inouye, Brian D; Underwood, Nora; Liu, Yanjie; Whitehead, Susan R; Wetzel, William C (August 2025, Ecology Letters)

   ABSTRACT A core hypothesis in invasion and community ecology is that species interaction patterns should differ between native and non‐native species due to non‐native species lacking a long evolutionary history in their resident communities. Numerous studies testing this hypothesis yield conflicting results, often focusing on mean interaction rates and overlooking the substantial within‐population variability in species interactions. We explored plant‐herbivore interactions in populations of native and established non‐native plant species by quantifying differences in mean herbivory and added a novel approach by comparing within‐population variability in herbivory. We include as covariates latitude, plant richness, plant growth form and cover. Using leaf herbivory data from the Herbivory Variability Network for 788 plant populations spanning 504 species globally distributed, we found no overall differences in mean herbivory or variability between native and non‐native plants. These results suggest native and established non‐native plants interact similarly with herbivores, indicating non‐native status is not a strong predictor of ecological roles. 

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4. Biotic Interactions Contribute to the Geographic Range Limit of an Annual Plant: Herbivory and Phenology Mediate Fitness beyond a Range Margin

   https://doi.org/10.1086/703187  

   Benning, John W.; Eckhart, Vincent M.; Geber, Monica A.; Moeller, David A. (April 2019, The American Naturalist)
5. Herbivory and nutrients shape grassland soil seed banks

   https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-39677-x  

   Eskelinen, Anu; Jessen, Maria-Theresa; Bahamonde, Hector A.; Bakker, Jonathan D.; Borer, Elizabeth T.; Caldeira, Maria C.; Harpole, W. Stanley; Jia, Meiyu; Lannes, Luciola S.; Nogueira, Carla; et al (December 2023, Nature Communications)

   Abstract Anthropogenic nutrient enrichment and shifts in herbivory can lead to dramatic changes in the composition and diversity of aboveground plant communities. In turn, this can alter seed banks in the soil, which are cryptic reservoirs of plant diversity. Here, we use data from seven Nutrient Network grassland sites on four continents, encompassing a range of climatic and environmental conditions, to test the joint effects of fertilization and aboveground mammalian herbivory on seed banks and on the similarity between aboveground plant communities and seed banks. We find that fertilization decreases plant species richness and diversity in seed banks, and homogenizes composition between aboveground and seed bank communities. Fertilization increases seed bank abundance especially in the presence of herbivores, while this effect is smaller in the absence of herbivores. Our findings highlight that nutrient enrichment can weaken a diversity maintaining mechanism in grasslands, and that herbivory needs to be considered when assessing nutrient enrichment effects on seed bank abundance. 

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