Snail herbivory decreases cyanobacterial abundance and lichen diversity along cracks of limestone pavements
Herbivores are known to decrease plant species diversity in ecosystems with low productivity. Limestone pavements are low-productive habitats harboring specialized communities of cyanobacteria, and endo- and epilithic lichens exposed to extreme temperature and humidity fluctuations. Pavements of the Great Alvar (O¨ land, Sweden) are covered by free-living cyanobacteria giving the rock surface a da