Table 2 Results of linear mixed models testing for the effect of rodent herbivory (rodent control, rodent exclusion), gastropod herbivory (gastropod control, gastropod exclusion), species origin (no seed addition control = C, exotic seed addition = E, native seed addition = N), and disturbance (disturbed = +D, undisturbed = −D) on total, grass, herb and legume species richness and aboveground productivity.

From: Interactions count: plant origin, herbivory and disturbance jointly explain seedling recruitment and community structure

Fixed effects

D.f.

Species richness

Abovegr. productivity

Total

Grasses

Herbs

Legumes

F ratio

F ratio

F ratio

F ratio

F ratio

Rodent (ROD)

1, 4

0.52

2.82

0.92

0.34

10.91*

Gastropod (GAS)

1, 8

7.67

0.34

1.88

9.84*

7.93*

Species origin (SO)

2, 80

83.62***

14.29***

64.90***

16.21***

10.25***

  ‘C vs. E + N’

1,80

159.76***

27.86***

119.24***

31.97***

16.81***

  ‘E vs. N’

1,80

7.49**

0.72

10.55**

0.46

3.69+

Disturbance (DIS)

1, 80

43.27***

0.71

51.63***

11.82***

58.75***

ROD × GAS

1, 8

5.22+

6.44*

1.98

0.03

0.75

ROD × SO

2, 80

1.68

0.59

1.64

1.15

2.35

ROD × DIS

1, 80

0

0.03

0.23

0.2

0.41

GAS × SO

2, 80

0.67

0.12

0.52

0

0.61

GAS × DIS

1, 80

3.38+

0.48

3.1+

3.27+

0.18

SO × DIS

2, 80

5.20**

2.06

4.08*

1.49

1.08

  ‘+D vs. –D’ × ‘C vs. E + N’

1,80

10.33**

—

8.15*

—

—

  ‘+D vs. +D’ × ‘E vs. N’

1,80

0.08

—

0.02

—

—

ROD × GAS × SO

2, 80

0.55

1.49

0.13

0.47

0.24

ROD × GAS × DIS

1, 80

0.16

1.65

0.02

6.25*

0.61

ROD × SO × DIS

2, 80

0.51

0.54

0.33

0.81

0.37

GAS × SO × DIS

2, 80

0.36

0.12

0.37

0.2

0.27

ROD × GAS × SO × DIS

2, 80

2.03

2.89+

1.02

0.45

0.5

  1. Relevant effects are decomposed into orthogonal contrasts to investigate more detailed a-priori hypotheses. Repeated measurements of the same sub-subplots are considered as random effects in all models. D.f. gives the numerator and denominator degrees of freedom. ‘Significant’ F values are shown in bold: +P < 0.10, *P < 0.05, **P < 0.01, ***P < 0.001.
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