Herbivorous Mammals Along a Montane Sere: Community Structure and Energetics

Document Type

Article

Journal/Book Title/Conference

Journal of Mammalogy

Publication Date

1980

Volume

61

Issue

3

Abstract

All common herbivorous mammals were censused along a successional gradient in northern Utah in order to assess some of the changes in ecosystem attributes predicted to occur by Odum (1969). Biomass (B) and energy flow [Production (P), Respiration (R), and P + R (E)] through each of nine species in each of four seral stages (montane meadow, Populus-dominated forest, Abies-dominated forest, and Picea-dominated forest) were estimated. Tests of eight predicted trends were supportwe in five cases (P/R ratio, P/B ratio, B/E ratio, net community production, and species richness), inconsistent in two cases (total organic matter and species evenness/general diversity) and ambiguous in one (size of organism). Community stability, as measured by changes in average community biomass between years of relatively normal and extremely low precipitation, increased with ecosystem maturity. Individual species, however, fluctuated greatly in biomass between the 2 years. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that mammals are determinants of successional patterns only insofar as they affect plant colonization. However, a continuum probably exists between completely passive species and those that strongly influence successional patterns in plant communities through their effects on plant recruitment and/or mortality. Changes in the plant community in turn affect the composition of the herbivorous mammal community.

Comments

Originally published by the American Society of Mammalogists. Publisher's PDF available through remote link via JSTOR.
Note: This article appeared in the Journal of Mammalogy.

First Page

500

Last Page

519

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