Call for collaboration on a systematic review on herbivory!

We are looking for enthusiastic collaborators to work on a systematic review on the effects of herbivore diversity in tundra ecosystems! Following the exciting work on the systematic map, we decided to embark on a systematic review. We have drafted a protocol that is currently under review in Environmental Evidence, and are now inviting colleagues to join forces for the next steps.

To join the co-author team, you will need to do about a week of work, including: i) few days on various tasks such as scoring papers for inclusion/exclusion and extracting data from papers, and ii) commenting on the manuscript. We will have a workshop at the Herbivory Network meeting in Tromsø in November to explain the project and the data extraction process, but you can already get involved helping out with some abstract screening.

Short intro to the project

Changes in the diversity of herbivore communities can strongly influence the functioning of northern ecosystems.  Different herbivores have different impacts on ecosystems, due to differences in their diets, behaviour and energy requirements.  The combined effects of different herbivores can in some cases compensate each other but lead to stronger directional changes elsewhere.  However, the diversity of herbivore assemblages has until recently been a largely overlooked dimension of plant-herbivore interactions.  Given the ongoing environmental changes in tundra ecosystems, with increased influx of boreal species and changes in the distribution and abundance of arctic herbivores, a better understanding of the consequences of changes in the diversity of herbivore assemblages is needed.  This systematic review aims to synthetise knowledge about effects of herbivore diversity on different ecosystem processes, functions and properties of tundra ecosystems.

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Picture: Svalbard reindeer and rock ptarmigan (picture Nicolas Lecomte)