Plant community construction is influenced by bottom‐up processes, such as environmental factors, and top‐down processes, such as herbivore disturbances. With climate change and overgrazing, the stability of plant community structure and function decreases, and more land at risk of degradation. However, the response of the plant community to interference from native herbivores under similar environmental conditions remains unclear. Plateau pika (Ochotona curzoniae) is an important small rodent inhabiting the alpine meadow of the Qinghai‐Tibetan Plateau, and its disturbance may accelerate the degradation of grassland ecosystems when its population experiences a burst. In this study, we investigated the plant communities, collected and analyzed the soil samples, to explore the effects of plateau pikas' disturbance intensity on species composition and phylogenetic structure of plant communities on the alpine meadow. We utilized the generalized additive model and structural equation model to explain and predict the response of plant phylogenetic structure and species competition to the disturbance of plateau pikas. Our results indicated that plateau pika disturbance altered the dominance of plant groups, increased species substitution, and facilitated coexistence among different species, and it affected deterministic processes, reduced interspecific competition intensity, and promoted the dispersion of phylogenetic structures. These findings suggested that plateau pika, as a small native herbivore, plays a significant role in fostering multi‐species plant communities. Therefore, it is essential to manage plateau pika disturbance intensity to maintain the stability of alpine meadow plant communities, as well as to influence the long‐term succession of grassland ecosystems. This study provides some new evidence for exploring the effects of native small herbivores on the changes in grassland plant communities.

中文翻译：

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青藏高原高寒草甸植物系统发育结构对高原鼠兔 （Ochotona curzoniae） 干扰的响应


植物群落构建受自下而上的过程（如环境因素）和自上而下的过程（如食草动物干扰）的影响。随着气候变化和过度放牧，植物群落结构和功能的稳定性下降，更多的土地面临退化的风险。然而，在类似环境条件下，植物群落对本地食草动物干扰的反应仍不清楚。高原鼠兔 （Ochotona curzoniae） 是栖息在青藏高原高寒草甸上的重要小型啮齿类动物，当其种群数量激增时，其干扰可能会加速草原生态系统的退化。本研究对高原鼠兔植物群落进行调查，收集并分析土壤样品，探讨高原鼠兔干扰强度对高寒草甸植物群落物种组成和系统发育结构的影响。我们利用广义加性模型和结构方程模型来解释和预测植物系统发育结构和物种竞争对高原鼠兔干扰的响应。结果表明，高原鼠兔干扰改变了植物类群的优势，增加了物种替代，促进了不同物种之间的共存，并影响了确定性过程，降低了种间竞争强度，促进了系统发育结构的分散。这些发现表明，高原鼠兔作为一种小型原生食草动物，在促进多物种植物群落方面发挥着重要作用。因此，管理高原鼠兔干扰强度对于维持高寒草甸植物群落的稳定性以及影响草原生态系统的长期演替至关重要。 本研究为探索本地小型食草动物对草地植物群落变化的影响提供了一些新的证据。