Shedding light on declines in diversity of grassland plants

Allan, Eric

doi:10.1038/d41586-022-03458-1

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02 November 2022

Shedding light on declines in diversity of grassland plants

A field experiment provides a new way to investigate the mechanisms by which grazing, fertilizer use and light availability can affect the biodiversity of a grassland plant community.

Eric Allan⁰

Eric Allan
1. Eric Allan is at the Institute of Plant Sciences, University of Bern, CH-3013 Bern, Switzerland.
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How different plant species coexist is a central question in ecology. In an era of global change and rapid species loss, understanding the mechanisms that affect biodiversity is a matter of urgency. Research shows that adding nutrients to the soil through the use of fertilizer¹, or removing large grazing animals, such as cattle and sheep², reduces the diversity of plant species in grasslands. Plants generally grow taller when nutrients are added or when grazers are removed, and these tall, fast-growing plants are thought to reduce diversity because they can monopolize access to light and shade out smaller plants³.

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Nature 611, 240-241 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-03458-1

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