Wild and domesticated animal abundance is associated with greater late-Holocene alpine plant diversity

In the face of human land use and climate dynamics, it is essential to know the key drivers of plant species diversity in montane regions. However, the relative roles of climate and ungulates in alpine ecosystem change is an open question. Neither observational data nor traditional palaeoecological data have the power to resolve this issue over decadal to centennial timescales, but sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) does. Here we record 603 plant taxa, as well as 5 wild, and 6 domesticated mammals from 14 lake sediment records over the last 14,000 years in the European Alps. Sheep were the first domesticated animals detected (at 5.8 ka), with cattle appearing at the early Bronze Age (4.2 ka) and goats arriving later (3.5 ka). While sheep had an impact similar to wild ungulates, cattle have been associated with increased plant diversity over the last 2 ka by promoting the diversity of forbs and graminoids. Modelling of the sedaDNA data revealed a significantly larger effect of cattle and wild ungulates than temperature on plant diversity. Our findings highlight the significant alteration of alpine vegetation and the entire ecosystem in the Alps by wild and domesticated herbivores. This study has immediate implications for the maintenance and management of high plant species diversity in the face of ongoing anthropogenic changes in the land use of montane regions.

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Publication Details

Journal
Nature Communications
Published
2025-04-25
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-59028-2
Citations
4
Primary Topic
Environmental DNA in Biodiversity Studies
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
6.87

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article

Wild and domesticated animal abundance is associated with greater late-Holocene alpine plant diversity

Dirk Nikolaus Karger, Kevin Walsh, Gentile Francesco Ficetola, Lieveke van Vugt et al.
4 citations
Nature Communications
Environmental DNA in Biodiversity Studies
6.87
article

Wild and domesticated animal abundance is associated with greater late-Holocene alpine plant diversity

Dirk Nikolaus Karger, Kevin Walsh, Gentile Francesco Ficetola, Lieveke van Vugt, Jean‐Paul Theurillat, Karin A. Koinig, Robert Schabetsberger, Éric Coissac, Christoph Schwörer, Owen Simon Wangensteen, Nigel G. Yoccoz, Sébastien Lavergne, Michael Strasser, Inger Greve Alsos, Jean Nicolas Haas, Scarlett Zetter, Sönke Szidat, Boris Vannière, Peter D. Heintzman, Loïc Pellissier, Sandra Garcés‐Pastor, Youri Lammers, Willy Tinner, Oliver Heiri, Fabian Rey, Andreas Tribsch, Antony G. Brown, Tomasz Goślar, Charline Giguet‐Covex
article en
4 citations

Abstract

In the face of human land use and climate dynamics, it is essential to know the key drivers of plant species diversity in montane regions. However, the relative roles of climate and ungulates in alpine ecosystem change is an open question. Neither observational data nor traditional palaeoecological data have the power to resolve this issue over decadal to centennial timescales, but sedimentary ancient DNA (sedaDNA) does. Here we record 603 plant taxa, as well as 5 wild, and 6 domesticated mammals from 14 lake sediment records over the last 14,000 years in the European Alps. Sheep were the first domesticated animals detected (at 5.8 ka), with cattle appearing at the early Bronze Age (4.2 ka) and goats arriving later (3.5 ka). While sheep had an impact similar to wild ungulates, cattle have been associated with increased plant diversity over the last 2 ka by promoting the diversity of forbs and graminoids. Modelling of the sedaDNA data revealed a significantly larger effect of cattle and wild ungulates than temperature on plant diversity. Our findings highlight the significant alteration of alpine vegetation and the entire ecosystem in the Alps by wild and domesticated herbivores. This study has immediate implications for the maintenance and management of high plant species diversity in the face of ongoing anthropogenic changes in the land use of montane regions.

Nature CommunicationsVol. 16(1)
University of Geneva (CH), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research (CH), Stockholm University (SE), University of Salzburg (AT), University of Basel (CH), University of Milan (IT), Universität Innsbruck (AT), Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research (CH), Institut de Biologia Evolutiva (ES), Laboratoire d'Écologie Alpine (FR), Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (AU), Centre Alpien de Phytogéographie (CH), Institut de Ciències del Mar (ES), Centre for Palaeogenetics (SE), Department of Archaeology (LK), University of York (GB), Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań (PL), Université Savoie Mont Blanc (FR), Universitat de Barcelona (ES), UiT The Arctic University of Norway (NO), Université de Franche-Comté (FR)
Universitetet i Tromsø, University of Bern, European Commission, Agence Nationale de la Recherche, Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung, Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Knut och Alice Wallenbergs Stiftelse, Università degli Studi di Pavia, Norges Forskningsråd, Fundación Bancaria Caixa d'Estalvis i Pensions de Barcelona
Climate action
Openalex Percentile: Top 4%
Environmental DNA in Biodiversity Studies
6.87
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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