Graminoid responses to grazing by large herbivores: Adaptations, exaptations and interacting processes
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Authors: M. B. Coughenour
Date: 1985
Journal: Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden
Volume: 72
Number: 4
Pages: 852-863
Summary of Methods: Coughenour examines the problem of ascribing adaptive significance to traits that enable graminoids to tolerate or evade ungulate herbivory. Some of these traits may have originally evolved in response to non-grazing selection pressures, thus constituting grazing exaptations rather than true adaptations. The fossil record indicates that semiarid habitats, extensive grasslands, and grazers appeared, interacted, and evolved together. Traits, such as developmental plasticity, enhance competitive ability in certain environments, but also increase grazing tolerance or resistance. Experiments and simulation modeling showed that defoliation responses are embedded in a network of interacting processes, including photosynthesis, transpiration, nutrient uptake, and resource allocation. Responses and adaptations to defoliation must be interpreted in this context. Although traits may have arisen due to non-herbivorous selection pressures, they may subsequently have been selected, combined, or amplified through grass-grazer coevolution to form species, phenotypically plastic individuals, or communities of species that evade, resist, or tolerate herbivory.
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: graminoids, ungulate herbivory, grazing, fossil records, competitive ability, grass-grazer coevolution, herbivory tolerance
Annotation: This review looked at many studies done in North America and other parts of the world. This summary attempts to only use North America information. Season of use is not specified.
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