Stress from grazing can influence the development of plants and this study uses statistical developmental instability analyses to relate growth characteristics of plants to stress levels caused by sheep and other ungulate grazing. In some plant species (C. greenii, O. hymenoides) that are not grazed by sheep during winter, analyses of plants exposed to heavy grazing pressure showed that stress decreased in comparison to other treatments, due to less competition from neighboring plants that were grazed during the winter time. Seriphidium novum, a plant that is preferred by sheep, increases the distance between its leaves as a response to stress, which the analyses indicated is frequent when exposed to grazing. In general, developmental instability analyses found that grazing releases ungrazed plants from competition, which reduced stress as expected, and that growth forms can change when plants are exposed to stress.
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