Shrunk coexistence: cattle exclusion and nutrient addition intensify competition between native and exotic grasses with low phenological overlap

Exotic plants are becoming increasingly common worldwide, often driven by ecological factors such as domestic livestock grazing and soil fertilization. In temperate grasslands, native C4 and exotic C3 grasses are generally expected to coexist due to their distinct temporal niches, which should reduc...

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Autores principales: Silvoso, María Celeste, Tognetti, Pedro Maximiliano, Armas, Cristina, Casanoves, Fernando, Graff, Barbara Pamela
Formato: info:ar-repo/semantics/artículo
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: Wiley 2025
Materias:
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/22655
https://nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/oik.11211
https://doi.org/10.1002/oik.11211
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author Silvoso, María Celeste
Tognetti, Pedro Maximiliano
Armas, Cristina
Casanoves, Fernando
Graff, Barbara Pamela
author_browse Armas, Cristina
Casanoves, Fernando
Graff, Barbara Pamela
Silvoso, María Celeste
Tognetti, Pedro Maximiliano
author_facet Silvoso, María Celeste
Tognetti, Pedro Maximiliano
Armas, Cristina
Casanoves, Fernando
Graff, Barbara Pamela
author_sort Silvoso, María Celeste
collection INTA Digital
description Exotic plants are becoming increasingly common worldwide, often driven by ecological factors such as domestic livestock grazing and soil fertilization. In temperate grasslands, native C4 and exotic C3 grasses are generally expected to coexist due to their distinct temporal niches, which should reduce direct competition. However, their differing abilities to exploit limited resources or tolerate vertebrate herbivory can create fitness imbalances, favoring exotic forage species over native species and potentially undermining their long-term coexistence. Few studies have explored how seasonally distinct groups of native and exotic plants interact, especially under the simultaneous manipulation of biotic factors – such as grazing and species interactions – and abiotic factors – such as soil nutrients. We conducted short- and long-term manipulative experiments in a temperate Pampa grassland in Argentina to investigate how herbivore exclusion, fertilization, and their combination influence plant invasion by altering interactions between native warm-season (C4) and exotic cool-season (C3) grasses. Despite their phenological differences, native C4 and exotic C3 grasses interact, and their interactions were weak under grazing. However, with herbivore exclusion and nutrient addition, interactions shifted towards strong competition, particularly in spring. This competition resulted in a slight increase in exotic grass cover over natives after two years. However, fourteen years after the onset of the long-term herbivore exclusion, exotic grasses, particularly Festuca arundinacea, had become dominant, suggesting potential risks to the coexistence of native and exotic species. Our study uniquely reveals that even when niche differentiation is expected to prevent direct competition, biotic and abiotic changes can trigger interactions that favour exotic species' dominance, challenging assumptions about the stability of coexistence between phenologically distinct grasses.
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institution Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA -Argentina)
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spelling INTA226552025-06-12T12:09:01Z Shrunk coexistence: cattle exclusion and nutrient addition intensify competition between native and exotic grasses with low phenological overlap Silvoso, María Celeste Tognetti, Pedro Maximiliano Armas, Cristina Casanoves, Fernando Graff, Barbara Pamela Pastizales Gramíneas Alimentación de los Animales Ganado Bovino Aplicación de Abonos Pastoreo Pastures Grasses Animal Feeding Cattle Fertilizer Application Grazing Exotic plants are becoming increasingly common worldwide, often driven by ecological factors such as domestic livestock grazing and soil fertilization. In temperate grasslands, native C4 and exotic C3 grasses are generally expected to coexist due to their distinct temporal niches, which should reduce direct competition. However, their differing abilities to exploit limited resources or tolerate vertebrate herbivory can create fitness imbalances, favoring exotic forage species over native species and potentially undermining their long-term coexistence. Few studies have explored how seasonally distinct groups of native and exotic plants interact, especially under the simultaneous manipulation of biotic factors – such as grazing and species interactions – and abiotic factors – such as soil nutrients. We conducted short- and long-term manipulative experiments in a temperate Pampa grassland in Argentina to investigate how herbivore exclusion, fertilization, and their combination influence plant invasion by altering interactions between native warm-season (C4) and exotic cool-season (C3) grasses. Despite their phenological differences, native C4 and exotic C3 grasses interact, and their interactions were weak under grazing. However, with herbivore exclusion and nutrient addition, interactions shifted towards strong competition, particularly in spring. This competition resulted in a slight increase in exotic grass cover over natives after two years. However, fourteen years after the onset of the long-term herbivore exclusion, exotic grasses, particularly Festuca arundinacea, had become dominant, suggesting potential risks to the coexistence of native and exotic species. Our study uniquely reveals that even when niche differentiation is expected to prevent direct competition, biotic and abiotic changes can trigger interactions that favour exotic species' dominance, challenging assumptions about the stability of coexistence between phenologically distinct grasses. EEA Cesáreo Naredo Fil: Silvoso, María Celeste. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Instituto de Investigaciones de Fisiología y Ecología Vinculadas a la Agricultura; Argentina Fil: Silvoso, María Celeste. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones de Fisiología y Ecología Vinculadas a la Agricultura; Argentina Fil: Silvoso, María Celeste. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones de Fisiología y Ecología Vinculadas a la Agricultura; Argentina Fil: Tognetti, Pedro Maximiliano. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones de Fisiología y Ecología Vinculadas a la Agricultura; Argentina Fil: Armas, Cristina. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas. Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas; España Fil: Casanoves, Fernando. Centro Agronómico Tropical de Investigación y Enseñanza (CATIE); Costa Rica Fil: Casanoves, Fernando. Universidad de La Amazonia. Facultad de Ciencias Agropecuarias. Doctorado en Ciencias Naturales y Desarrollo Sustentable; Colombia Fil: Graff, Barbara Pamela. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Agronomía. Instituto de Investigaciones de Fisiología y Ecología Vinculadas a la Agricultura; Argentina Fil: Graff, Barbara Pamela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Investigaciones de Fisiología y Ecología vinculadas a la Agricultura; Argentina Fil: Graff, Barbara Pamela. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Cesáreo Naredo. Agencia de Extensión Rural Coronel Suárez; Argentina 2025-06-12T12:06:29Z 2025-06-12T12:06:29Z 2025-06 info:ar-repo/semantics/artículo info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/22655 https://nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/oik.11211 0030-1299 1600-0706 https://doi.org/10.1002/oik.11211 eng info:eu-repo/semantics/restrictedAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/ Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) application/pdf Wiley Oikos : e11211. (First published: 08 June 2025)
spellingShingle Pastizales
Gramíneas
Alimentación de los Animales
Ganado Bovino
Aplicación de Abonos
Pastoreo
Pastures
Grasses
Animal Feeding
Cattle
Fertilizer Application
Grazing
Silvoso, María Celeste
Tognetti, Pedro Maximiliano
Armas, Cristina
Casanoves, Fernando
Graff, Barbara Pamela
Shrunk coexistence: cattle exclusion and nutrient addition intensify competition between native and exotic grasses with low phenological overlap
title Shrunk coexistence: cattle exclusion and nutrient addition intensify competition between native and exotic grasses with low phenological overlap
title_full Shrunk coexistence: cattle exclusion and nutrient addition intensify competition between native and exotic grasses with low phenological overlap
title_fullStr Shrunk coexistence: cattle exclusion and nutrient addition intensify competition between native and exotic grasses with low phenological overlap
title_full_unstemmed Shrunk coexistence: cattle exclusion and nutrient addition intensify competition between native and exotic grasses with low phenological overlap
title_short Shrunk coexistence: cattle exclusion and nutrient addition intensify competition between native and exotic grasses with low phenological overlap
title_sort shrunk coexistence cattle exclusion and nutrient addition intensify competition between native and exotic grasses with low phenological overlap
topic Pastizales
Gramíneas
Alimentación de los Animales
Ganado Bovino
Aplicación de Abonos
Pastoreo
Pastures
Grasses
Animal Feeding
Cattle
Fertilizer Application
Grazing
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12123/22655
https://nsojournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/oik.11211
https://doi.org/10.1002/oik.11211
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