Heavy grazing reduces the potential for grassland restoration: a global meta-analysis

作者：Wentao Mi, Weibo Ren, Chi Yuan, Hao Zheng, Ellen L. Fry, Yuan Feng, Yaling Liu · 发表于：Environmental Research Letters · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.1088/1748-9326/ad703f · 被引用次数：14 · 研究领域：Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies、Rangeland and Wildlife Management、Plant Parasitism and Resistance

Abstract Soil seed banks are the main seed reservoirs globally and are critical for the regeneration of grassland plant populations. Grazing often affects the density and diversity of grassland soil seed banks; however, it is not clear how these effects vary on a global scale with grazing intensity, grazing duration, and climatic conditions. Here, we screened 92 independent published articles and performed a meta-analysis of the extracted data. The effects of grazing on four soil seed bank density and diversity indices were analyzed. Four alpha diversity indices, namely Shannon–Wiener, Margalef, Pielou, and Simpson indices, were selected in this study. The Shannon–Wiener index reflects the species complexity of the community. The Margalef index reflects species richness of the seed bank. The Pielou index reflects whether the number of seeds of all species in the seed bank is evenly distributed, and the Simpson’s index reflects the status of dominant plants in the seed bank. We found that grazing significantly decreased the total density of soil seed banks. Perennial plant seed banks were more affected by grazing than annual plant seed banks. Heavy grazing significantly decreased the Margalef index of seed banks, while moderate grazing significantly decreased the Simpson’s alpha diversity index. Long-term grazing (>10 years) had the greatest impact on Simpson’s alpha diversity index, while medium-term grazing (5–10 years) had a significant negative impact on Shannon–Wiener,...