Assessing the impacts of nonrandom seed dispersal by multiple frugivore partners on plant recruitment

Razafindratsima, Onja H.; Dunham, Arthur E.

doi:10.1890/14-0684.1

Cited by 47 publications

(50 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…While some dispersers contribute to plant fitness via directed dispersal, not all dispersers are created equal. In Madagascar, even though one lemur species was identified as directly dispersing seeds, seeds from lemur dispersers in general typically have lower recruitment levels than if dispersal were random (Razafindratsima and Dunham, 2015).…”

Section: Directed Dispersalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Connecting Resource Tracking by Frugivores to Temporal Variation in Seed Dispersal Networks

2017

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Mutualistic interactions between species are crucial for the maintenance and functioning of the community. Current research has shown the importance of not only understanding the structure of these mutualistic interaction networks but also their temporal dynamics. Temporal changes in species abundance, such as those caused by vertebrate resource tracking, may create temporal variability in a network though neighborhood effects and influence the directedness of dispersal. While much research has been done on resource tracking, neighborhood effects, and directed dispersal individually, little research has been done into their interrelationships and, therefore, theory of how resource tracking can influence frugivory and seed dispersal networks remains poorly developed. We use the available literature to show the prevalence of resource tracking by vertebrate frugivores and hypothesize how, through neighborhood effects, resource tracking may influence short-term variation in network properties. We then discuss how resource tracking can influence long-term network properties by altering the dispersal of plant species. Lastly, we use this information to hypothesize how the introductions of new species into a community may alter the influence of resource tracking on frugivory and seed dispersal. While trait matching and links that are not possible between species in a community (i.e., forbidden links) play a large role in determining the structure of a network, temporal change in the abundance of species due to resource tracking may also affect the properties of networks. By increasing our understanding of the role resource tracking has in the temporal variability of frugivory and seed dispersal networks, we can better determine the full extent of species interactions and provide valuable information for the conservation of ecological communities.

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Section: Directed Dispersalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Connecting Resource Tracking by Frugivores to Temporal Variation in Seed Dispersal Networks

2017

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“…A peak wet season occurs in January to March (average monthly rainfall of 508 mm), and the dry season peaks in June-October (average monthly rainfall: 143 mm) (Dunham et al 2011). RNP is home to >330 known tree and large shrub species (Razafindratsima and Dunham 2015). RNP is home to >330 known tree and large shrub species (Razafindratsima and Dunham 2015).…”

Section: Study Site and Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…All adult trees in the transects were identified and recorded (Razafindratsima and Dunham 2015). In each of our four study sites where we conducted lemur observations (described below, see map in Appendix S1), we established nine transects of 500 × 4 m. These transects ran perpendicular to a main trail system and were spaced at least 100 m apart and overlapped with the home ranges of our study lemur groups.…”

Section: Tree Communities and Fruiting Phenologymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We alternated observed groups and species daily (from 0700 h until about 1700 h when they were no longer active or we could no longer locate the group), to ensure sampling of comparable data across all groups (Razafindratsima and Dunham 2015). We sampled defecations of seeds from eight pre-habituated groups of each of the three lemur species from June 2010 to June 2011, which were distributed across four established field sites within the southern parcel of the park (Mangevo, Talatakely, Valohoaka and Vatoharanana; see map in Appendix S1).…”

Section: Direct Observations Of Seed Dispersal By Lemurs Near Fruitinmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Frugivores bias seed‐adult tree associations through nonrandom seed dispersal: a phylogenetic approach

Razafindratsima

Dunham

2016

Ecology

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Frugivores are the main seed dispersers in many ecosystems, such that behaviorally driven, nonrandom patterns of seed dispersal are a common process; but patterns are poorly understood. Characterizing these patterns may be essential for understanding spatial organization of fruiting trees and drivers of seed-dispersal limitation in biodiverse forests. To address this, we studied resulting spatial associations between dispersed seeds and adult tree neighbors in a diverse rainforest in Madagascar, using a temporal and phylogenetic approach. Data show that by using fruiting trees as seed-dispersal foci, frugivores bias seed dispersal under conspecific adults and under heterospecific trees that share dispersers and fruiting time with the dispersed species. Frugivore-mediated seed dispersal also resulted in nonrandom phylogenetic associations of dispersed seeds with their nearest adult neighbors, in nine out of the 16 months of our study. However, these nonrandom phylogenetic associations fluctuated unpredictably over time, ranging from clustered to overdispersed. The spatial and phylogenetic template of seed dispersal did not translate to similar patterns of association in adult tree neighborhoods, suggesting the importance of post-dispersal processes in structuring plant communities. Results suggest that frugivore-mediated seed dispersal is important for structuring early stages of plant-plant associations, setting the template for post-dispersal processes that influence ultimate patterns of plant recruitment. Importantly, if biased patterns of dispersal are common in other systems, frugivores may promote tree coexistence in biodiverse forests by limiting the frequency and diversity of heterospecific interactions of seeds they disperse.

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“…For the conservation of endangered fleshy-fruited plants, it is important to explore how the plants form an effective dispersal pattern across different regions, which is the key strategy for preventing endangered populations from collapsing (Bascompte and Jordano 2007;Li et al 2015a;Razafindratsima and Dunham 2015). The effective dispersal pattern is often estimated as the number of seed removal by frugivores (quantity) and the relative contribution of frugivores to seedling recruitment (quality) (Schupp 1993;Schupp et al 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bulbuls and crows provide complementary seed dispersal for China’s endangered trees

Bai

et al. 2017

Avian Res

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Background: Different functional frugivores generally exhibit unequal contributions, both in terms of quantity (seed removal) and quality (seedling recruitment), to effective seed dispersal of plant species. However, variations in this dispersal pattern generated by frugivores across different regions are still unknown. Methods:In our study, we evaluated the contributions of two functional frugivore bird groups, the bulbuls (Pycnonotidae) and crows (Corvidae), in both the seed removal and seedling recruitment of the endangered Chinese yew tree (Taxus chinensis) across three different geographical regions in eastern China. Results:The dominant crow species, Urocissa erythrorhyncha, was the most common disperser crow species at all sites, while the dominant bulbul species varied across the three sites. Furthermore, the two functional groups of dispersers diverged in the aspects of seed removal (quantity) and seedling recruitment pattern (quality). While bulbuls outperformed crows in seed removal (quantity), crows took more seeds to a safer site for seedlings (quality). Conclusions:Our results highlight the importance of variations in the effective seed dispersal patterns of different functional disperser groups across different regions in the conservation and management of endangered tree species.

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Assessing the impacts of nonrandom seed dispersal by multiple frugivore partners on plant recruitment

Cited by 47 publications

References 27 publications

Connecting Resource Tracking by Frugivores to Temporal Variation in Seed Dispersal Networks

Connecting Resource Tracking by Frugivores to Temporal Variation in Seed Dispersal Networks

Frugivores bias seed‐adult tree associations through nonrandom seed dispersal: a phylogenetic approach

Bulbuls and crows provide complementary seed dispersal for China’s endangered trees

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