{
  "abstract": "Grasslands cover approximately 40% of Earth's land surface and contribute substantially to terrestrial primary production. Despite widespread grazing, field estimates of grassland aboveground net primary productivity commonly overlook two grazing-related processes: biomass consumed by herbivores and post-grazing compensatory growth. The magnitude and direction of the resulting biases remain unclear. Here we quantified these biases using a 3-year yak grazing experiment on the Tibetan Plateau, a meta-analysis of 152 grazing experiments across China, and a global synthesis of 212 paired observations from 58 studies. Overlooking biomass consumed by herbivores consistently underestimated productivity by 34-51%. By contrast, overlooking grazing-induced compensation generated smaller but more variable biases, ranging from 29% underestimation to 19% overestimation, mainly reflecting contrasting compensatory responses under rotational versus continuous grazing. These findings show that overlooking grazing-mediated processes introduces substantial, process-dependent biases in grassland productivity estimates, underscoring the need to incorporate these processes into ecosystem and climate assessments.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Lanzhou University, Peking University"
  ],
  "article_type": "New results",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 10,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Y. Shi"
    },
    {
      "name": "H. Wang"
    },
    {
      "name": "H. Zi"
    },
    {
      "name": "X. Wang"
    },
    {
      "name": "H. Gu"
    },
    {
      "name": "Z. Zhang"
    },
    {
      "name": "L. Peng"
    },
    {
      "name": "A. Chen"
    },
    {
      "name": "G. Yu"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "J.-S. He"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/05a8yc6566x39.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.64898/2026.10.13.758807",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.13.758807v1.full",
  "id": "05a8yc6566x39",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.13.758807v1",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "biorxiv",
      "ecology"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2308|Rangeland Management and Livestock Ecology"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7221834877",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.13.758807v1.full.pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-13",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/05a8yc6566x39.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:27:48Z",
      "native_id": "10.64898/2026.10.13.758807",
      "source": "biorxiv",
      "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.13.758807v1"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "biorxiv:ecology",
      "subfield": "ecology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Hidden grassland productivity from overlooked herbivore impacts",
  "title_text": "Hidden grassland productivity from overlooked herbivore impacts",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:27:48Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/05a8yc6566x39",
  "venue": "bioRxiv",
  "versions": []
}