Data from: Feces nitrogen release induced by different large herbivores in a dry grassland

Large herbivores have pronounced effects on nutrient cycling in
grasslands. These organisms are known to alter the quality and quantity of
plant production as well as the amounts and quality of plant litter and
animal wastes. The generalization that the relative quality of detritus
inputs is enhanced by herbivores is well known, but how this process is
affected by diet selection processing and feces production of different
large herbivores remains largely unstudied. Here, we measured how these
differences for cattle and sheep on a dry grassland might influence
nitrogen (N) mineralization from feces. We found that cattle of larger
body size tended to select low quality grass Stipa grandis as the major
food source. In contrast, the subdominant grass Leymus chinensis with
relatively high N content was a majority in the diet of smaller sheep,
when palatable forbs were insufficient in the field. This diverse diet
quality resulted in a C/N ratio of cattle feces that was higher than that
of sheep feces. Relatively higher labile C availability in the cattle
feces, namely relatively higher cellulose/hemicellulose contents, promoted
microbial growth and in turn accelerated cattle feces decomposition. A
surprise finding was that the feces from cattle mineralized about twice as
much N as feces from sheep, despite the latter having slightly higher N
content. From a grassland productivity perspective, increasing the
proportion of large body-sized species in grazing herbivore assemblages
perhaps is beneficial to forage productivity and nutrient recycling by the
rapid degradation of feces.