Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41257323›Full record

ArticleEcology letters2025

Herbivory Modifies the Role of Spatial Processes in a Grassland Plant Metacommunity.

Lena Huovinen, Marjo Saastamoinen, Jonathan M Chase, Anna-Liisa Laine, Aleksi Räsänen, Anu Eskelinen

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Ecology letters, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing 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

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. 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.

Lena HuovinenEcology and Genetics Unit, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0001-9752-2934
Marjo SaastamoinenFaculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
Jonathan M ChaseGerman Center for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv), Leipzig, Germany.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5580-4303
Anna-Liisa LaineFaculty of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
Aleksi RäsänenGeography Research Unit, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland.
Anu EskelinenEcology and Genetics Unit, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland.

Funding

Emil Aaltosen Säätiö 220052 KOResearch Council of Finland 318930 Arctic Interactions (ArcI)Research Council of Finland 351089Societas pro Fauna et Flora Fennica
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Trophic interactions can strongly influence metacommunity dynamics and patterns of biodiversity in spatially heterogeneous environments. Theory predicts that herbivory facilitates plant species coexistence at small scales by reducing extinctions and promoting colonisations but reduces diversity at larger scales by promoting dominance of herbivore-resistant species. We examined how mammalian herbivory interacts with habitat size and connectivity to affect plant diversity in a unique, naturally fragmented grassland metacommunity system located in Southern Finland. We found that herbivory increased plant diversity across scales of measurement. In addition, herbivory reversed the diversity-area relationship such that there was a positive diversity-area relationship in grazed grasslands, but a negative relationship in ungrazed grasslands. Connectivity exhibited a unimodal relationship with diversity but did not interact with herbivory. Our empirical results demonstrate that herbivores can promote plant coexistence across scales and highlight the interplay between habitat area and trophic interactions in facilitating plant biodiversity in grassland metacommunities.

Indexed as

BiodiversityGrasslandHerbivoryMammalsPlantsAnimalsEcosystemFinlandFood Chainbiodiversityhabitat areahabitat connectivityherbivorymetacommunity ecology

Identifiers

PMID41257323
PMCPMC12628290

What OpenQuestion holds

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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.