Vegetation shift from deciduous to evergreen dwarf shrubs in response to selective herbivory offsets carbon losses : Evidence from 19 years of warming and simulated herbivory in the subarctic tundra
Selective herbivory of palatable plant species provides a competitive advantage for unpalatable plant species, which often have slow growth rates and produce slowly decomposable litter. We hypothesized that through a shift in the vegetation community from palatable, deciduous dwarf shrubs to unpalatable, evergreen dwarf shrubs, selective herbivory may counteract the increased shrub abundance that