{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/124466"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/124466","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"Mammalian herbivores reinforce ecological state transitions in the Chihuahuan Desert","abstract":"Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2024-09-16 without embargo terms","abstract_html":"Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2024-09-16 without embargo terms","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Andreoni, Kieran"],"institution":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"M.S.","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Natural Res & Env Sciences","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Schooley, Robert","Bestelmeyer, Brandon","Schauber, Eric"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2024,"date_issued":"2024-05","date_published":"2024-05","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:00Z","subjects":["African Oryx","Cattle","Desert Rodents","Dryland Ecology","Grasslands","Herbivory","Lagomorphs","Landscape Change"],"languages":["en","eng"],"rights":["Copyright 2024 Kieran Andreoni"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://hdl.handle.net/2142/124466","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Schooley, Robert","Bestelmeyer, Brandon","Schauber, Eric"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Andreoni, Kieran"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2024-05","2024-05-03"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Natural Res & Env Sciences"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["M.S."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["African Oryx","Cattle","Desert Rodents","Dryland Ecology","Grasslands","Herbivory","Lagomorphs","Landscape Change"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en","eng"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2024 Kieran Andreoni"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://hdl.handle.net/2142/124466"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2024-09-16 without embargo terms","The student, Kieran Andreoni, accepted the attached license on 2024-05-02 at 15:49.","The student, Kieran Andreoni, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2024-05-02 at 16:00.","This Thesis was approved for publication on 2024-05-03 at 09:41.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #20765 on 2024-09-16 at 00:37:56","Woody plant encroachment is a main driver of landscape change in drylands globally. In the Chihuahuan Desert, past livestock overgrazing interacted with prolonged drought to convert vast expanses of black grama (Bouteloua eriopoda) grasslands to honey mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa) shrublands. Such ecosystem state transitions have greatly reduced habitat for grassland wildlife species, increased soil erosion, and inhibited the delivery of ecosystem services to local communities. The potential for wild herbivores to trigger or reinforce shrubland states may be underappreciated, however, and few studies compare herbivory effects across multiple consumer taxa. Here, I address the roles of multiple mammalian herbivores in driving or reinforcing landscape change in the Chihuahuan Desert by examining their effects on plant communities over multiple spatial and temporal scales, as well as across plant life stages. Moreover, I studied these herbivore effects in the context of precipitation pulses, long-term climate influences, competitive interactions, and habitat structure. I used two long-term studies that hierarchically excluded herbivores by body size over 25 years (Herbivore Exclosure Study) and 21 years (Ecotone Study), and a perennial grass seedling herbivory experiment. Native rodents and lagomorphs were especially important in determining grass cover and plant community composition in wet periods and affected perennial grass persistence over multiple life stages. Conversely, during drought, climate drove declines in perennial grass cover, promoting shrub expansion across the landscape. In that shrub-encroached state, native small mammals reinforced grass loss in part because habitat structure provided cover from predators. This research advances our understanding of an underappreciated component of ecosystem change in drylands – small mammal herbivory – and highlights the need to incorporate positive feedbacks from native small mammals into conceptual models of grassland-shrubland transitions."]},{"key":"dc:format","label":"Dc Format","values":["application/pdf"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Mammalian herbivores reinforce ecological state transitions in the Chihuahuan Desert"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Schooley, Robert","Bestelmeyer, Brandon","Schauber, Eric"],"dc:creator":["Andreoni, Kieran"],"dc:date":["2024-05","2024-05-03"],"dc:description":["Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2024-09-16 without embargo terms","The student, Kieran Andreoni, accepted the attached license on 2024-05-02 at 15:49.","The student, Kieran Andreoni, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2024-05-02 at 16:00.","This Thesis was approved for publication on 2024-05-03 at 09:41.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #20765 on 2024-09-16 at 00:37:56","Woody plant encroachment is a main driver of landscape change in drylands globally. In the Chihuahuan Desert, past livestock overgrazing interacted with prolonged drought to convert vast expanses of black grama (Bouteloua eriopoda) grasslands to honey mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa) shrublands. Such ecosystem state transitions have greatly reduced habitat for grassland wildlife species, increased soil erosion, and inhibited the delivery of ecosystem services to local communities. The potential for wild herbivores to trigger or reinforce shrubland states may be underappreciated, however, and few studies compare herbivory effects across multiple consumer taxa. Here, I address the roles of multiple mammalian herbivores in driving or reinforcing landscape change in the Chihuahuan Desert by examining their effects on plant communities over multiple spatial and temporal scales, as well as across plant life stages. Moreover, I studied these herbivore effects in the context of precipitation pulses, long-term climate influences, competitive interactions, and habitat structure. I used two long-term studies that hierarchically excluded herbivores by body size over 25 years (Herbivore Exclosure Study) and 21 years (Ecotone Study), and a perennial grass seedling herbivory experiment. Native rodents and lagomorphs were especially important in determining grass cover and plant community composition in wet periods and affected perennial grass persistence over multiple life stages. Conversely, during drought, climate drove declines in perennial grass cover, promoting shrub expansion across the landscape. In that shrub-encroached state, native small mammals reinforced grass loss in part because habitat structure provided cover from predators. This research advances our understanding of an underappreciated component of ecosystem change in drylands – small mammal herbivory – and highlights the need to incorporate positive feedbacks from native small mammals into conceptual models of grassland-shrubland transitions."],"dc:format":["application/pdf"],"dc:identifier":["https://hdl.handle.net/2142/124466"],"dc:language":["en","eng"],"dc:rights":["Copyright 2024 Kieran Andreoni"],"dc:subject":["African Oryx","Cattle","Desert Rodents","Dryland Ecology","Grasslands","Herbivory","Lagomorphs","Landscape Change"],"dc:title":["Mammalian herbivores reinforce ecological state transitions in the Chihuahuan Desert"],"dc:type":["text"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Natural Res & Env Sciences"],"thesis:degree_level":["Thesis"],"thesis:degree_name":["M.S."],"thesis:institution_name":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:25:00Z"}