Plant diversity and resilience to reindeer grazing

Abstract

Higher plant species richness has been proposed to increase the resilience of plant communities to disturbance. The purpose of this study was to test whether this is true for reindeer grazed arctic tundra vegetation. Plant biomass, plant community structure, and species richness were measured along four fences that separated areas grazed by reindeer from ungrazed areas in northern Norway. I found a negative relationship between plant species richness and the change in species richness and biomass due to grazing. These results indicate diversity did not confer greater resilience to increased reindeer grazing intensity. No support for higher grazing pressure in diverse habitats were recorded, thus, these results suggest lower resilience to grazing in species-rich arctic tundra vegetation. © 2006 Regents of the University of Colorado.