[en] The urgency of restoring ecosystems over vast areas has placed rewilding using wild herbivores at the forefront. However, few scientific studies address its effects on biodiversity and ecosystem functioning compared to more traditional conservation interventions with domestic herbivores. Equus ferus przewalskii horses introduced 30 years ago in the National Park of Cévennes, France - as a step of a conservation program of the species for its reintroduction in Mongolia - now occur as a semi-wild horse population, socially natural (i.e., management is based on natural selection). This introduction allowed us to compare this management system ('as wild') with other breeding systems: domestic sheep or domestic horses. Rewilding projects especially focus on the restoration of ecological functions, we therefore sought to find out if there are differences in the functional traits of the vegetation depending on the grazer and its management (domestic vs 'as wild') with the aim to generalize our results to other rewilding projects. Two levels of organization were tested (1) plant communities - using the TRY database and botanical surveys and (2) plant populations - by selecting four indicator species with traits measured in situ. Our results show that at equivalent grazing pressure, domestic horses or 'as wild' horses preserve the same plant functional types as in the traditional reference ecosystem grazed by sheep. Whatever the grazer and its management, grassland plant communities are characterized and dominated by perennial polycarpic plants, with oligotrophic to mesotrophic nutrient requirement, hemicryptophytes, graminoids, plants with entire leaf blades, not spiny, erect and mainly forming tussock. Nevertheless, some interesting significant differences were measured between the plant communities growing under the three types of grazing (e.g., lower functional richness and more plants with entire leaf blade under sheep grazing). Even between horse sub-species, differences were significant for some traits (e.g., more chamaephyte species growing under 'as wild' horses), which could be linked to physiological and morphological differences between the two horses sub-species (e.g., nutritional requirements, herbivore size) and by herd management. However, the intraspecific variability on the four quantitative traits measured on four indicator species do not show a general pattern. Although these results are valid at a given time and in a particular ecosystem, the vegetation functional traits approach can help in decision-making regarding ecosystem management choices and highlight the fact that the 'as wild' management adds an interesting alternative to conservation.
Disciplines :
Environmental sciences & ecology
Author, co-author :
Mutillod, Clémentine ; Avignon Université, IMBE Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d'Écologie, Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, IRD, Site Agroparc BP 61207, 84911 Cedex 09, Avignon, France. Electronic address: clementine.mutillod@gmail.com
Buisson, Elise ; Avignon Université, IMBE Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d'Écologie, Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, IRD, Site Agroparc BP 61207, 84911 Cedex 09, Avignon, France
Tatin, Laurent ; Avignon Université, IMBE Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d'Écologie, Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, IRD, Site Agroparc BP 61207, 84911 Cedex 09, Avignon, France
Mahy, Grégory ; Université de Liège - ULiège > TERRA Research Centre > Biodiversité, Ecosystème et Paysage (BEP)
Dufrêne, Marc ; Université de Liège - ULiège > Département GxABT > Biodiversité, Ecosystème et Paysage (BEP)
Morvan, Nina; Avignon Université, IMBE Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d'Écologie, Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, IRD, Site Agroparc BP 61207, 84911 Cedex 09, Avignon, France
Mesléard, François; Avignon Université, IMBE Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d'Écologie, Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, IRD, Site Agroparc BP 61207, 84911 Cedex 09, Avignon, France, Institut de recherche pour la conservation des zones humides méditerranéennes, Tour du Valat, Le Sambuc, 13200, Arles, France, Association pour le Cheval de Przewalski: TAKH, Le Villaret, 48150, Hures la Parade, France
Dutoit, Thierry; Avignon Université, IMBE Institut Méditerranéen de Biodiversité et d'Écologie, Aix Marseille Univ, CNRS, IRD, Site Agroparc BP 61207, 84911 Cedex 09, Avignon, France
Language :
English
Title :
Plant trait responses to herbivore type managed as domestic or as wild.
MESR - France. Ministère de l'Enseignement supérieur et de la Recherche
Funding text :
We would like to thank the Minist\u00E8re de l'Education Nationale, de l'Enseignement sup\u00E9rieur et de la Recherche for the funding. Our gratitude also goes to Association Takh and the Parc National des C\u00E9vennes for the operational support and the authorization to conduct out our study within the designated protected areas. We are grateful to the domestic horses (Ga\u00EBtan L.) and sheep breeders (Benjamin L. and Micka\u00EBl J.) for allowing us to carry out our study in their enclosures and for providing us with the information about the animals, herd management and the land history. We are thankful to Nicolas Guillon and Pedro Augusto Thomas for their help during the field work, particularly in determinating and measuring plant traits. Many thanks to Daniel Pavon from the Institut M\u00E9diterra\u00E9en de Biodiversit\u00E9 et d'Ecologie and Fr\u00E9d\u00E9ric Andrieu from the Conservatoire Botanique National Mediterran\u00E9en for their training in plant identification and for helping us identify certain species. We thank all the TRY database contributors for their precious measurements. We are thankful to Marie-Lise Benot from INRAE Universit\u00E9 de Bordeaux for her advices, and the three anonymous reviewers who greatly contributed to improve this article.
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