Patch-Scale Effects of Equine Disturbance on Arthropod Assemblages and Vegetation Structure in Subalpine Wetlands

• Published in: Environmental management (New York) Vol. 53; no. 6; pp. 1109 - 1118
• Main Authors: Holmquist, Jeffrey G, Schmidt-Gengenbach, Jutta, Ballenger, Elizabeth A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer-Verlag 01.06.2014; Springer US; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animals; Aquatic Pollution; Arthropoda; Arthropods; Assessments; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Disturbances; Earth and Environmental Science; Ecology; Ecosystem; Environment; Environmental Management; Fauna; Feeding Behavior; Forestry Management; Grazing; Grazing intensity; Habitats; Horses; Livestock; Meadows; National parks; Nature Conservation; Plants, Edible; Population Dynamics; Random sampling; sampling; Senescence; Vegetation; Vegetation effects; vegetation structure; Waste Water Technology; Water Management; Water Pollution Control; Wetlands; United States; USA; Pack stock; Horse and mule grazing; Terrestrial arthropod assemblages; Vegetation structure; Subalpine wetland; Disturbance
• ISSN: 0364-152X; 1432-1009
• DOI: 10.1007/s00267-014-0266-2

Assessments of vertebrate disturbance to plant and animal assemblages often contrast grazed versus ungrazed meadows or other larger areas of usage, and this approach can be powerful. Random sampling of such habitats carries the potential, however, for smaller, more intensely affected patches to be missed and for other responses that are only revealed at smaller scales to also escape detection. We instead sampled arthropod assemblages and vegetation structure at the patch scale (400–900 m² patches) within subalpine wet meadows of Yosemite National Park (USA), with the goal of determining if there were fine-scale differences in magnitude and directionality of response at three levels of grazing intensity. Effects were both stronger and more nuanced than effects evidenced by previous random sampling of paired grazed and ungrazed meadows: (a) greater negative effects on vegetation structure and fauna in heavily used patches, but (b) some positive effects on fauna in lightly grazed patches, suggested by trends for mean richness and total and population abundances. Although assessment of disturbance at either patch or landscape scales should be appropriate, depending on the management question at hand, our patch-scale work demonstrated that there can be strong local effects on the ecology of these wetlands that may not be detected by comparing larger scale habitats.