Conservation management; Domestic horses and sheep grazing; Naturalistic grazing; Plant community; Przewalski horses; Rewilding; Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics; Nature and Landscape Conservation
Abstract :
[en] The urgent need to preserve ecosystems over vast areas has placed rewilding with wild herbivores to the forefront. However, there are still few scientific experimental field studies dealing with its effects on biodiversity and ecosystem services. Since 1993, in France, a socially natural population of wild horses (Equus ferus przewalskii) has been managed for its conservation. This introduction is an opportunity to compare this new management system with the multi-secular extensive sheep breeding and the more recent conventional domestic horse breeding. We sought to discover if plant communities show differences depending on the grazers and the managing system. We surveyed 208 plots divided into six grazed sites (two sites per type of grazer), where all plants species and their percent cover were listed within 1m2, and environmental variables – such as stones percent cover, slope - were measured within 100m2. To focus on the grazer effects, we used a subsample of plots with similar environmental variables. To study the grazing system - management choices - effects, we ran the analyses using all the plots. At both scales, our results show that species richness, evenness and heterogeneity are significantly higher with wild horses than with sheep grazing. Intermediate value is measured for evenness concerning domestic horses at the grazing system scale. Species richness is significantly higher for domestic horses than sheep focusing on the grazer; intermediate values are measured for evenness and heterogeneity. At both scales, wild horses also favour dicots rather than monocots. Our results indicate that grazing by horses maintains and promotes grassland diversity, especially when horses are managed ‘as wild’ - allowing them to express their natural behaviour. However, further studies are needed focusing on populations of patrimonial plant species over time, other taxonomical groups and/or on functional diversity and ecosystem services to compare and test more finely the effects of an animal bred extensively and ‘as wild’.
Disciplines :
Environmental sciences & ecology
Author, co-author :
Mutillod, Clémentine; Avignon Université, Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, IRD, IMBE Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d'Écologie marine et continentale, Avignon, France
Buisson, Elise; Avignon Université, Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, IRD, IMBE Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d'Écologie marine et continentale, Avignon, France
Tatin, Laurent; Avignon Université, Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, IRD, IMBE Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d'Écologie marine et continentale, Avignon, France
Mahy, Grégory ; Université de Liège - ULiège > TERRA Research Centre > Biodiversité et Paysage ; Avignon Université, Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, IRD, IMBE Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d'Écologie marine et continentale, Avignon, France
Dufrêne, Marc ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département GxABT > Biodiversité et Paysage
Mesléard, François; Avignon Université, Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, IRD, IMBE Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d'Écologie marine et continentale, Avignon, France ; Institut de recherche pour la conservation des zones humides méditerranéennes Tour du Valat, Arles, France ; Association pour le Cheval de Przewalski: TAKH, France
Dutoit, Thierry; Avignon Université, Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, IRD, IMBE Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d'Écologie marine et continentale, Avignon, France
Language :
English
Title :
Managed as wild, horses influence grassland vegetation differently than domestic herds
We especially thank ED536 of Avignon Université and the Ministère de l'Education Nationale, de l'Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche for the funding. We are grateful to Association Takh and the Parc National des Cévennes for the operational support and the authorization to carry out our study in the corresponding protected areas. We also thank the domestic horse (Gaëtan Lamorinière) and sheep breeders (Benjamin Lamorinière and Mickaël Jaffard) for the authorization to carry out our study in their enclosures and provide us with the information concerning the animals, herd management and the land history. We are thankful for all the help given during the field work by the student Nicolas Guillon. Many thanks to Daniel Pavon from the Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d'Ecologie and Frédéric Andrieu from the Conservatoire Botanique National Mediterranéen for the training course on plant determination and the determination of some species. We also would like to thank the anonymous reviewer and the associate editor for helping improve this article, and Cate Evans for the language revision.
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