Soft resilience: moisture-dependent lichen elasticity buffer herbivore trampling in cold alpine-tundra ecosystems

Herbivores may have extensive top-down effects in open grazing ecosystems, generating vegetation changes by grazing and trampling. Trampling effects are understudied, but may be a major ecological factor. In cold alpine-Arctic ecosystems grazing and trampling by wild tundra reindeer ( Rangifer tarandus ) may be particularly important in lichen-dominated heaths. Dry lichen are crushed by trampling, and it is estimated that volume loss of lichen...