Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39806220›Full record

ArticleNature food2025

Dung predicts the global distribution of herbivore grazing pressure in drylands.

David J Eldridge, Tadeo Sáez-Sandino, Fernando T Maestre, Jingyi Ding, Emilio Guirado, Manuel Delgado-Baquerizo

Abstract read
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In one paragraph

Article in Nature food, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

David J EldridgeCentre for Ecosystem Science, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. d.eldridge@unsw.edu.au.ORCID 0000-0002-2191-486X
Tadeo Sáez-SandinoLaboratorio de Biodiversidad y Funcionamiento Ecosistémico, Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología de Sevilla (IRNAS), CSIC, Sevilla, Spain.ORCID 0000-0001-9539-4716
Fernando T MaestreBiological and Environmental Science and Engineering Division, Environmental Science and Engineering, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, Thuwal, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.ORCID 0000-0002-7434-4856
Jingyi DingState Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Faculty of Geographical Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China.
Emilio GuiradoInstituto Multidisciplinar para el Estudio del Medio "Ramón Margalef", Universidad de Alicante, Alicante, Spain.ORCID 0000-0001-5348-7391
Manuel Delgado-BaquerizoLaboratorio de Biodiversidad y Funcionamiento Ecosistémico, Instituto de Recursos Naturales y Agrobiología de Sevilla (IRNAS), CSIC, Sevilla, Spain.ORCID 0000-0002-6499-576X

Funding

The Hermon Slade Foundation RG210474
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Dryland grazing sustains millions of people worldwide but, when poorly managed, threatens food security. Here we combine livestock and wild herbivore dung mass data from surveys at 760 dryland sites worldwide, representing independent measurements of herbivory, to generate high-resolution maps. We show that livestock and wild herbivore grazing is globally disconnected, and identify hotspots of herbivore activity across Africa, the Eurasian grasslands, India, Australia and the United States. Wild herbivore dung mass was negatively correlated with total organic nitrogen, yet strong site-level correlations exist between our livestock dung estimates and total soil organic nitrogen. Using dung mass as a proxy of herbivore abundance enables standardized, field-based measures of grazing pressure that account for different herbivore types. This can improve herbivore density modelling and guide better management practices for populations that rely on dryland-grazing livestock for food.

Indexed as

FecesHerbivoryLivestockAnimalsAustraliaGrasslandNitrogenSoilNitrogenSoil

Identifiers

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.