An Eltonian proxy for restoring a lost browser-tree interaction

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dc.contributor.authorRoot-Bernstein, Meredith
dc.contributor.authorGuerrero-Gatica, Matias
dc.contributor.authorRossle, Andoni Elorrieta
dc.contributor.authorFleming, Jory
dc.contributor.authorAguillar, Jorge Ramos
dc.contributor.authorRochefort, Benjamin Silva
dc.contributor.authorCharles-Dominique, Tristan
dc.contributor.authorArmesto, Juan
dc.contributor.authorJaksic, Fabian M.
dc.date.accessioned2025-01-20T16:11:57Z
dc.date.available2025-01-20T16:11:57Z
dc.date.issued2024
dc.description.abstractMany South American dry woodlands lack good historical or paleoecological baseline data to inform restoration and conservation. However, functionalist approaches such as those popularized by rewilding suggest that functional interactions producing target ecosystem processes are valid even without data confirming compositionalist values such as a long coevolutionary histories or known historical range overlaps of target species. In central Chile, the guanaco (Lama guanicoe) has been extirpated but is known to browse trees in other regions of South America, and the tree Vachellia [Acacia] caven shows adaptations to browsing but has no extant browsers within its Chilean range. Both species are native to Chile but there are no data to assess their historical levels of interaction. Here we test the hypothesis that they can act as mutual "Eltonian proxy" species: interacting species for which we lack sufficient data (the Eltonian shortfall) to prove they are not proxies. Specifically we predict that they have complementary adaptations such that guanacos will browse Vachellia [Acacia] caven and the latter will show adaptive responses to their browsing. We introduced five guanacos into an enclosure of Vachellia [Acacia] caven "espinal" woodland, and over two years measured the growth responses of individual branches, compared to branches of trees in an area without browsing. We predicted that Vachellia [Acacia] caven would show compensatory growth in response to guanaco browsing resulting in an increase in branching. Guanacos browsed throughout the two years. In the presence of guanaco browsing, Vachellia [Acacia] caven branches grew longer, grew more sub-branches, and showed more densely streamlined branch architectures. These results indicate that guanacos could be used to substitute anthropogenic pruning as a restoration and management technique in Vachellia [Acacia] caven "espinal" woodlands. However, other extinct megaherbivores or extirpated deer may also be key components of a past herbivore community to which Vachellia [Acacia] caven was adapted. Further attention to a network of multiple interacting browsers, and their indirect and nontrophic effects, is an area for further research.
dc.fuente.origenWOS
dc.identifier.doi10.1016/j.jaridenv.2024.105228
dc.identifier.eissn1095-922X
dc.identifier.issn0140-1963
dc.identifier.urihttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2024.105228
dc.identifier.urihttps://repositorio.uc.cl/handle/11534/90303
dc.identifier.wosidWOS:001282016800001
dc.language.isoen
dc.revistaJournal of arid environments
dc.rightsacceso restringido
dc.subjectAnimal-plant
dc.subjectBrowsing
dc.subjectCompensatory growth
dc.subjectEltonian shortfall
dc.subjectEspinal
dc.subjectGuanaco
dc.subjectProxy
dc.subjectRewilding
dc.subject.ods14 Life Below Water
dc.subject.ods15 Life on Land
dc.subject.odspa14 Vida submarina
dc.subject.odspa15 Vida de ecosistemas terrestres
dc.titleAn Eltonian proxy for restoring a lost browser-tree interaction
dc.typeartículo
dc.volumen224
sipa.indexWOS
sipa.trazabilidadWOS;2025-01-12
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