Wild herbivores enhance resistance to invasion by exotic cacti in an African savanna

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dc.contributor.authorWells, Harry B. M.
dc.contributor.authorCrego, Ramiro D.
dc.contributor.authorAlston, Jesse M.
dc.contributor.authorNdung'u, S. Kimani
dc.contributor.authorKhasoha, Leo M.
dc.contributor.authorReed, Courtney G.
dc.contributor.authorHassan, Abdikadir A.
dc.contributor.authorKurukura, Samson
dc.contributor.authorEkadeli, Jackson
dc.contributor.authorNamoni, Mathew
dc.contributor.authorStewart, Peter S.
dc.contributor.authorKimuyu, Duncan M.
dc.contributor.authorWolf, Amelia A.
dc.contributor.authorYoung, Truman P.
dc.contributor.authorKartzinel, Tyler R.
dc.contributor.authorPalmer, Todd M.
dc.contributor.authorGoheen, Jacob R.
dc.contributor.authorPringle, Robert M.
dc.contributor.funderNatural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
dc.contributor.funderUniversity of Florida
dc.contributor.funderUniversity of British Columbia
dc.contributor.funderGovernment of the Republic of Kenya
dc.contributor.funderNational Science Foundation
dc.contributor.funderNational Geographic Society
dc.contributor.funderUniversity of Wyoming
dc.contributor.funderHigh Meadows Environmental Institute, Princeton University
dc.contributor.funderNature Conservancy
dc.contributor.funderInstitute at Brown for Environment and Society, Brown University
dc.contributor.funderSmithsonian Institution
dc.contributor.funderBundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung
dc.contributor.funderSächsisches Staatsministerium für Wissenschaft und Kunst
dc.contributor.funderNatural Environment Research Council
dc.contributor.funderDurham University
dc.date.accessioned2024-05-09T15:31:16Z
dc.date.available2024-05-09T12:00:17Zen
dc.date.available2024-05-09T15:31:16Z
dc.date.issued2022-10-11
dc.date.updated2024-05-09T11:00:21Zen
dc.description.abstract1.Whether wild herbivores confer biotic resistance to invasion by exotic plants remains a key question in ecology. There is evidence that wild herbivores can impede invasion by exotic plants, but it is unclear whether and how this generalises across ecosystems with varying wild herbivore diversity and functional groups of plants, particularly over long-term (decadal) time frames. 2. Using data from three long-term (13- to 26-year) exclosure experiments in central Kenya, we tested the effects of wild herbivores on the density of exotic invasive cacti, Opuntia stricta and O. ficus-indica (collectively, Opuntia), which are among the worst invasive species globally. We also examined relationships between wild herbivore richness and elephant occurrence probability with the probability of O. stricta presence at the landscape level (6150 km2). 3. Opuntia densities were 74% to 99% lower in almost all plots accessible to wild herbivores compared to exclosure plots. Opuntia densities also increased more rapidly across time in plots excluding wild herbivores. These effects were largely driven by megaherbivores (≥1000 kg), particularly elephants. 4. At the landscape level, modelled Opuntia stricta occurrence probability was negatively correlated with estimated species richness of wild herbivores and elephant occurrence probability. On average, O. stricta occurrence probability fell from ~0.56 to ~0.45 as wild herbivore richness increased from 6 to 10 species and fell from ~0.57 to ~0.40 as elephant occurrence probability increased from ~0.41 to ~0.84. These multi-scale results suggest that any facilitative effects of Opuntia by wild herbivores (e.g. seed/vegetative dispersal) are overridden by suppression (e.g. consumption, uprooting, trampling). 5. Synthesis. Our experimental and observational findings that wild herbivores confer resistance to invasion by exotic cacti add to evidence that conserving and restoring native herbivore assemblages (particularly megaherbivores) can increase community resistance to plant invasions.
dc.description.sponsorshipUS National Science Foundation (DEB-0709880; OISE-0852961, DEB-1355122; IOS-1656527; DEB-1547679; DEB-1930763; DEB-2018405; DEB-1930820); Smithsonian Institution (James Smithson Fund); National Geographic Society (Grants 4691-91, 9106-12 and 9986-16); National Science Foundation (LTREB BSR 97-07477, 03-16402, 08-16453, 12-56004, 12-56034 and 19-31224); Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (Center for Advanced Systems Understanding (CASUS) which is financed by Germany's Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and by the Saxon Ministry for Science, Culture and Tourism (SMWK)); Natural Environment Research Council (NERC Iapetus2 Doctoral Training Program); Durham University (Durham Invasion Science Laboratory
dc.description.statusPeer revieweden
dc.description.versionAccepted Version
dc.format.mimetypeapplication/pdfen
dc.identifier.citationWells, H.B.M., Crego, R.D., Alston, J.M., Ndung’u, S.K., Khasoha, L.M., Reed, C.G., Hassan, A.A., Kurukura, S., Ekadeli, J., Namoni, M., Stewart, P.S., Kimuyu, D.M., Wolf, A.A., Young, T.P., Kartzinel, T.R., Palmer, T.M., Goheen, J.R. and Pringle, R.M. (2023) ‘Wild herbivores enhance resistance to invasion by exotic cacti in an African savanna’, Journal of Ecology, 111(1), pp. 33–44. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.14010.
dc.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2745.14010
dc.identifier.endpage44
dc.identifier.issn0022-0477
dc.identifier.issn1365-2745
dc.identifier.issued1
dc.identifier.journaltitleJournal of Ecology
dc.identifier.startpage33
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10468/15851
dc.identifier.volume111
dc.language.isoenen
dc.publisherWiley; British Ecology Society
dc.rights© 2022 The Authors. Journal of Ecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Ecological Society. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
dc.titleWild herbivores enhance resistance to invasion by exotic cacti in an African savannaen
dc.typeArticle (peer-reviewed)
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