Question

Describe a system in which herbivory by a mammal has a profound effect on the ecosystem in which it lives: African browsers and savanna ecosystems; bison and prairies; moose and fir forests; gophers and grasslands.

Answer 1

African browsers has a profound effect on savanna ecosystem by either directly through grass consumption or indirectly by reducing the competitive effect of trees on grasses. Herbivory of browsers causes increase in grass growth, leading to increase in fuel that results in more intense fires and decrease in woody biomass. Apart from herbivory, they affect theecosystem through by trampling, urinating, trashin, etc.

                                                                       Bison in prairies acts as a living tree revomver by eating the bark of tress and a tree cannot survive without bark and they quickly die. Bison provides nitrogen to plants by eating grass, concentrating the nitrogen through digestive process, and eliminating from the body, which the plants can make use of. Bisons have a strong preference for grasses and hence grasses cannot form thick hatch and keeps the grasses healthy.

                                                                     Moose affect the biodiversity in fir forests through feeding and killing plants, trampling, defecating, and urinating. Fecas of moose contributes nitrogen to the ecosystem, essential for plant growth. Moose affect the understory vegetation, which includes reduced biomass of palatable herbs due to browsing and an increase in light demanding species due to canopy disturbance.

                                                                    Gophers love to feed on herbaceous cover crops pocket but also feed on the bark of tree crowns and roots. Bark consumption kills young vines or trees or reduce the vigor of older vines or trees. They also feed on the roots of vegetable and berry plants and plants with more fibrous root systems often suffer minimal damage, whereas plants with large taproots get affected more.