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Herbivory and Stoichiometric Feedbacks to Primary Production

Established theory addresses the idea that herbivory can have positive feedbacks on nutrient flow to plants. Positive feedbacks likely emerge from a greater availability of organic carbon that primes the soil by supporting nutrient turnover through consumer and especially microbially-mediated metabo...

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Autores principales: Krumins, Jennifer Adams, Krumins, Valdis, Forgoston, Eric, Billings, Lora, van der Putten, Wim H.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2015
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4476572/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26098841
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0129775
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author Krumins, Jennifer Adams
Krumins, Valdis
Forgoston, Eric
Billings, Lora
van der Putten, Wim H.
author_facet Krumins, Jennifer Adams
Krumins, Valdis
Forgoston, Eric
Billings, Lora
van der Putten, Wim H.
author_sort Krumins, Jennifer Adams
collection PubMed
description Established theory addresses the idea that herbivory can have positive feedbacks on nutrient flow to plants. Positive feedbacks likely emerge from a greater availability of organic carbon that primes the soil by supporting nutrient turnover through consumer and especially microbially-mediated metabolism in the detrital pool. We developed an entirely novel stoichiometric model that demonstrates the mechanism of a positive feedback. In particular, we show that sloppy or partial feeding by herbivores increases detrital carbon and nitrogen allowing for greater nitrogen mineralization and nutritive feedback to plants. The model consists of differential equations coupling flows among pools of: plants, herbivores, detrital carbon and nitrogen, and inorganic nitrogen. We test the effects of different levels of herbivore grazing completion and of the stoichiometric quality (carbon to nitrogen ratio, C:N) of the host plant. Our model analyses show that partial feeding and plant C:N interact because when herbivores are sloppy and plant biomass is diverted to the detrital pool, more mineral nitrogen is available to plants because of the stoichiometric difference between the organisms in the detrital pool and the herbivore. This model helps to identify how herbivory may feedback positively on primary production, and it mechanistically connects direct and indirect feedbacks from soil to plant production.
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spelling pubmed-44765722015-06-25 Herbivory and Stoichiometric Feedbacks to Primary Production Krumins, Jennifer Adams Krumins, Valdis Forgoston, Eric Billings, Lora van der Putten, Wim H. PLoS One Research Article Established theory addresses the idea that herbivory can have positive feedbacks on nutrient flow to plants. Positive feedbacks likely emerge from a greater availability of organic carbon that primes the soil by supporting nutrient turnover through consumer and especially microbially-mediated metabolism in the detrital pool. We developed an entirely novel stoichiometric model that demonstrates the mechanism of a positive feedback. In particular, we show that sloppy or partial feeding by herbivores increases detrital carbon and nitrogen allowing for greater nitrogen mineralization and nutritive feedback to plants. The model consists of differential equations coupling flows among pools of: plants, herbivores, detrital carbon and nitrogen, and inorganic nitrogen. We test the effects of different levels of herbivore grazing completion and of the stoichiometric quality (carbon to nitrogen ratio, C:N) of the host plant. Our model analyses show that partial feeding and plant C:N interact because when herbivores are sloppy and plant biomass is diverted to the detrital pool, more mineral nitrogen is available to plants because of the stoichiometric difference between the organisms in the detrital pool and the herbivore. This model helps to identify how herbivory may feedback positively on primary production, and it mechanistically connects direct and indirect feedbacks from soil to plant production. Public Library of Science 2015-06-22 /pmc/articles/PMC4476572/ /pubmed/26098841 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0129775 Text en © 2015 Krumins et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Research Article
Krumins, Jennifer Adams
Krumins, Valdis
Forgoston, Eric
Billings, Lora
van der Putten, Wim H.
Herbivory and Stoichiometric Feedbacks to Primary Production
title Herbivory and Stoichiometric Feedbacks to Primary Production
title_full Herbivory and Stoichiometric Feedbacks to Primary Production
title_fullStr Herbivory and Stoichiometric Feedbacks to Primary Production
title_full_unstemmed Herbivory and Stoichiometric Feedbacks to Primary Production
title_short Herbivory and Stoichiometric Feedbacks to Primary Production
title_sort herbivory and stoichiometric feedbacks to primary production
topic Research Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4476572/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26098841
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0129775
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