SynthesisNature ecology & evolution2024
Meta-analysis shows that wild large herbivores shape ecosystem properties and promote spatial heterogeneity.
Synthesis in Nature ecology & evolution, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 38 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
38 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Native and introduced megafauna have convergent effects on animals and ecosystems: a meta-analysis.Nature communications · 2026Pooled it
- Global nitrogen enrichment impacts plant diversity more than soil bacterial and fungal diversity: a meta-analysis.Nature communications · 2026Pooled it
- Reevaluating introduced herbivores in conservation.Conservation biology : the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology · 2026Article
- Article
- Lower speciation, not higher extinction, drove African megaherbivore diversity collapse.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Marine biodiversity was greater in the presence of ecosystem engineers throughout the Phanerozoic.Nature communications · 2026Article
- European challenges.Nature ecology & evolution · 2026Article
- Impacts of large herbivores on savanna plant communities: Predictive models of herbivore selectivity and plant response.Ecology · 2026Article
- The European Upper Palaeolithic Palaeoecological and Archaeological Dataset for sites north of 50°N.Scientific data · 2026Article
- High Densities of Large Herbivores Rapidly Disrupt Ecosystem Integrity.Global change biology · 2026Article
- Open habitats and species differences shape space use in semi-feral cattle and horses across Danish rewilding sites.Environmental monitoring and assessment · 2026Article
- Large herbivores and abiotic drivers jointly shape spatiotemporal grassland dynamics in a subalpine ecosystem.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Mammal defaunation leads to biotic homogenization of plant communities in tropical rainforests.Ecology · 2026Article
- Mechanism of Dietary Variation of Grazing Yaks on Tibetan Plateau: The Role of Seasonal Heterogeneity of Resources.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Large herbivores are linked to higher herbaceous plant diversity and functional redundancy across spatial scales.The Journal of animal ecology · 2026Article
- Camel grazing reshapes root and rhizome economic strategies and trade-offs: synergistic roles of soil water, salinity, and nitrogen availability.Frontiers in plant science · 2026Article
- Space-use by feral cattle and horses shapes vegetation structure in a trophic rewilding area.Ecological applications : a publication of the Ecological Society of America · 2026Article
- Heterogeneous distribution of toxic arsenic modulates the mutualistic interaction between Pteris vittata and soil microbiota.Communications biology · 2025Article
- Herbivory Modifies the Role of Spatial Processes in a Grassland Plant Metacommunity.Ecology letters · 2025Article
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Megafauna (animals ≥45 kg) have probably shaped the Earth's terrestrial ecosystems for millions of years with pronounced impacts on biogeochemistry, vegetation, ecological communities and evolutionary processes. However, a quantitative global synthesis on the generality of megafauna effects on ecosystems is lacking. Here we conducted a meta-analysis of 297 studies and 5,990 individual observations across six continents to determine how wild herbivorous megafauna influence ecosystem structure, ecological processes and spatial heterogeneity, and whether these impacts depend on body size and environmental factors. Despite large variability in megafauna effects, we show that megafauna significantly alter soil nutrient availability, promote open vegetation structure and reduce the abundance of smaller animals. Other responses (14 out of 26), including, for example, soil carbon, were not significantly affected. Further, megafauna significantly increase ecosystem heterogeneity by affecting spatial heterogeneity in vegetation structure and the abundance and diversity of smaller animals. Given that spatial heterogeneity is considered an important driver of biodiversity across taxonomic groups and scales, these results support the hypothesis that megafauna may promote biodiversity at large scales. Megafauna declined precipitously in diversity and abundance since the late Pleistocene, and our results indicate that their restoration would substantially influence Earth's terrestrial ecosystems.
Indexed as
Identifiers
38337048What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.