Université de Fribourg

Does the strength of facilitation by nurse shrubs depend on grazing resistance of tree saplings?

Vandenberghe, Charlotte ; Smit, Christian ; Pohl, Mandy ; Buttler, Alexandre ; Freléchoux, François

In: Basic and Applied Ecology, 2009, vol. 10, no. 5, p. 427-436

Facilitation of tree regeneration by nurse shrubs that offer protection against large herbivores is an important driver of wood-pasture dynamics. Here we asked whether the response to facilitation by nurse shrubs depends on the grazing resistance of the protégé saplings. We experimentally tested the protective effects of the thorny Rosa rubiginosa on browsing frequency, survival, and biomass...

Université de Fribourg

Nurse plants, tree saplings and grazing pressure: changes in facilitation along a biotic environmental gradient

Smit, Christian ; Vandenberghe, Charlotte ; Ouden, Jan den ; Müller-Schärer, Heinz

In: Oecologia, 2007, vol. 152, no. 2, p. 265-273

Current conceptual models predict that an increase in stress shifts interactions between plants from competitive to facilitative; hence, facilitation is expected to gain in ecological importance with increasing stress. Little is known about how facilitative interactions between plants change with increasing biotic stress, such as that incurred by consumer pressure or herbivory (i.e....