Disturbances in drylands: Interactions among herbivory, drought, and termite activity in savanna plant communities

Climate models predict increases in the frequency and intensity of extreme-weather events. The impacts of these events may be modulated by biotic agents in unpredictable ways, yet few experiments cover sufficient spatiotemporal scales to measure the interactive effects of multiple extreme events. We used 15 years of a 28-year experiment spanning several significant droughts to investigate how rainfall, large herbivores, and soil-engineering termites affect understory vegetation in a semi-arid savanna. Herbivory was the dominant influence on community structure—decreasing cover, increasing species richness, and favouring occurrence of annuals relative to perennials—but these effects were contingent on rainfall and termitaria in non-additive (hence unpredictable) ways. A separate experiment affirmed that resource supplementation does not straightforwardly compensate for herbivory effects.
Synthesis: Our study highlights the potency of top-down forcing in African savannas. It suggests impr..., , , # Disturbances in drylands: Interactions among herbivory, drought, and termite activity in savanna plant communities

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.18931zd7q](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.18931zd7q)

## Description of the data and file structure

These data were collected at the Kenya Long-term Herbivore Exclusion Experiment (KLEE) and were used to study the effects of herbivores, rainfall, and termite mounds on African savanna understory vegetation.

### Files and variables

#### File: Hits\_OMWC\_20stns\_cont\_final.csv

**Description:** Understory plant pin frame pin hit data in the fenced ('O') and unfenced ('MWC') treatments of KLEE at 20 sampling stations.

##### Variables

* Date: Sampling date to closest month (YYYY-MM-DD).
* Survey: Numerical survey ID.
* Block: Replicate block (N=north, C=central, S=South).
* Treatment: Herbivore treatment (O=fenced, MWC=unfenced).
* Row: Row ID of sampling grid.
* Column: Column ID of sampling grid.
* Station: Sampling station ID (RowColumn...,