Overcompensation by plants: Herbivore optimization or red herring?
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Authors: A. J. Belsky, W. P. Carson, C. L. Jensen, and G. A. Fox
Date: 1993
Journal: Evolutionary Ecology
Volume: 7
Number: 109-121
Summary of Methods: The purpose of this review is to look into the history of the debate on the benefits of herbivory to plants and to illustrate that many ecologists believe that herbivory can increase plant fitness and/or productivity. Plants experience injury from a wide variety of sources besides herbivory, including fire, wind, heat, and trampling. Several assumptions underlie all discussions of the benefits of herbivory: that plant species are able to evolve a strategy of depending on herbivores to increase their productivity and fitness; that herbivores do not preferentially regraze the overcompensating plants; that resources will be sufficient for regrowth and that being larger is always better than being smaller. None of these assumptions is correct.
Article Summary / Main Points: None
Vegetation Types:
MLRA Ecoregions:
Agrovoc Control Words: Riparian zones Rangelands Wildlife
Article Review Type: Refereed
Article Type: Scientific Synthesis
Keywords: compensatory growth, dynamic models, grazing tolerance, herbivore optimization, overcompensation, plant antiherbivore strategies, plant-herbivore mutualism
Annotation: Grazing intensity is not specified. Season of use is not specified.
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