On facilitation between herbivores:How Brent Geese profit from brown hares

Brown hares (Lepus europaeus) are shown to facilitate grazing by Brent Geese (Branta bernicla) in a temperate salt marsh in the Netherlands by retarding vegetation succession for >25 yr. Winter grazing by hares prevented the shrub Atriplex portulacoides from spreading in younger parts nf thp salt marsh. Clipping experiments showed that Atriplex had poor recovery after removal of aboveground tissue, which makes Atriplex vulnerable for hare attack. Once Atriplex swards were cut to the ground to mimic hare grazing, Brent Geese visited those sites more than twice as frequently than untouched co... Mehr ...