BIOLOGY 2F03 Lecture 14: Ch. 14 – Herbivory and Predation
11 Dec 2015
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Document Summary
Herbivory is a widespread ecological interaction and has caused the evolution of a diversity of plant defense strategies. Herbivory rarely immediately kills a plant . usually they can recover very well. Under some conditions, herbivory can stimulate plant growth. Grazing by geese reduced above-ground biomass therefore at any point in time there was more standing biomass in the undergrazed plots than the grazed plots. Standing biomass: the measure of how much plant biomass is found at a specific point in time, per unit area. But the grazed plots had higher primary productivity, even though standing biomass was reduced = an example of overcompensation, where growth following herbivory is greater then growth without herbivory. Light grazing by geese can cause overcompensation of in a subarctic salt marsh. Heavy grazing can by the same geese can cause reductions in plant growth. 3 ideas that could influence plant recovery: not all grazing is of the same potential impact to the plant.
