| Grazing is a global, dominant land use affecting biodiversity and ecosystem processes. In Mediterranean ecosystems grazing is a major ecological and evolutionary driver but, surprisingly, there is little information on the use of grazing as a tool to manage biodiversity in these ecosystems. We conducted an experiment to assess if the coexistence of grazing and grazing-excluded patches would increase plant and invertebrate diversity in a Mediterranean evergreen oak woodland. Plant community traits were different between treatments. Plant and litter biomass was higher, and the proportion of bare ground was lower, in grazing-excluded plots. Grazing affected functional diversity with legumes, invertebrate detritivores and sup sucking insects being more... |
