The cascading impacts of livestock grazing in upland ecosystems: a 10‐year experiment

Abstract

Livestock grazing is a major driver of land‐use change, causing significant biodiversity loss globally. Although the short‐term effects of livestock grazing on individual species are well studied, a mechanistic understanding of the long‐term, cascading impacts is lacking. We manipulated livestock densities using a unique, replicated upland experiment over a 10‐year period and found significant effects of grazing treatment on plant and arthropod biomass; the number of Anthus pratensis breeding bird territories; the amplitude of Microtus agrestis population cycles and the activity of a top predator, Vulpes vulpes. Lower plant biomass as a result of higher stocking densities led to cascades across trophic levels, with fewer arthropods and small mammals, the latter affecting predator activity. Breeding bird territories were a function of arthropod abundance and vegetation structure heterogeneity. Our results provide a novel food‐web analysis in a grazing experiment to provide a mechanistic understanding of how food‐webs in upland ecosystems respond to long‐term livestock grazing pressure, with consequences for management.