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393 results for “seed dispersal”
Data from: Estimation of potential seed dispersal regions based on floating and ballochory of Euphorbia adenochlora capsules
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Data from: Early genetic consequences of defaunation in a large-seeded vertebrate-dispersed palm (Syagrus romanzoffiana)
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Modelling long-distance seed dispersal of Spathodea campanulata in the Society Islands
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Data from: Divergent effects of forest edges on host distribution and seed disperser activity influence mistletoe distribution and recruitment
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Supporting data: Speciation and population divergence in a mutualistic seed dispersing bird
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Data from: Preference of an insular flying fox for seed figs enhances seed dispersal of a dioecious species
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The role of spines in anthropogenic seed dispersal on the Galápagos islands
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Data from: Loss of animal seed dispersal increases extinction risk in a tropical tree species due to pervasive negative density dependence across life stages
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Data from: Successional status, seed dispersal mode and overstorey species influence tree regeneration in tropical rain-forest fragments in Western Ghats, India
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Forbidden fruits? Ecosystem services from seed dispersal by fruit bats in the context of latent zoonotic risk
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Data from: Ant seed removal in a non-myrmecochorous Neotropical shrub: implications for seed dispersal
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Increased importance of terrestrial vertebrate seed dispersal in tropical logged forests
<b>Description: </b><p>A large seed dispersal experiement combining seed tracking and camera trapping at ten forest sites along a wide gradient of historical logging disturbance with AGB ranging between 4.7 and 614.0 Mg ha-1, all part of the established SAFE mammal survey network. Each experiment was run for a consecutive five days using experimental seeds with different hardness (fleshy vs hard) and size (large vs small). Each seed was tracked with a spool.</p><p><b>Project: </b>This dataset was collected as part of the following SAFE research project: <a href="https://www.safeproject.net/projects/project_view/177"><b>Resilience of Tropical Forest Ecosystem Processes to the Interactive Effects of El Nino and Forest Disturbance</b></a></p><p><b>Funding: </b>These data were collected as part of research funded by: </p><ul><li>Natural Environment Research Council (Directed grant, NE/P00363X/1, <a href="https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FP00363X%2F1">https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FP00363X%2F1</a>)</li></ul><p>This dataset is released under the CC-BY 4.0 licence, requiring that you cite the dataset in any outputs, but has the additional condition that you acknowledge the contribution of these funders in any outputs.</p><p></p><p><b>XML metadata: </b>GEMINI compliant metadata for this dataset is available <a href="https://www.safeproject.net/datasets/xml_metadata?id=3901735">here</a></p><p><b>Files: </b>This consists of 1 file: template_seed_experiment_LanQieJan9_v2.xlsx</p><p><b>template_seed_experiment_LanQieJan9_v2.xlsx</b></p><p>This file contains dataset metadata and 2 data tables:</p><ol><li><p><b>Seed fate</b> (described in worksheet Seed fate)</p><p>Description: seed fate and removal distance of 12000 experimental seeds of different treatments at all sites</p><p>Number of fields: 14</p><p>Number of data rows: 12000</p><p>Fields: </p><ul><li><b>seed.id</b>: Seed ID (Field type: id)</li><li><b>Grid</b>: Experimental site ID, with the same Grid identifier used in the core SAFE project small mammal trapping work -- see SAFE dataset 256 "CORE SAFE PROJECT SMALL MAMMAL TRAPPING DATA" (Field type: id)</li><li><b>Point</b>: experimental points, selected from the camera trap points in SAFE gazetteer (Field type: location)</li><li><b>Day</b>: The day of the seed outcome. Each experimental point was set up on Day 1 and checked on Day 2-6. This numeric variable is used for temporal analysis. For treating Day as a random effect, an additional "date" label can be created by pasting Grid and Day. (Field type: numeric)</li><li><b>type</b>: Experiment seed type. OP = oil palm fruit, PK1 = single pumpkin seed, PK10 = pumpkin seed cluster of 10, PK20 = pumpkin seed cluster of 20, PT = pistachio nut. For analysis, these were classified as fleshy (OP) vs hard (other seeds), and large (> 10 g; OP, PK10, PK20) vs small (< 10 g; PT, PK1). (Field type: categorical)</li><li><b>trmt</b>: Experiment treatment. Control = seeds accessible by all animals, Cage = exclosure cage treatment with 10x10cm entrances where large vertebrates were excluded (Field type: categorical)</li><li><b>Distance</b>: Seed removal distance (Field type: numeric)</li><li><b>Bearing</b>: Compass bearing of the removed seed from experimental point (Field type: numeric)</li><li><b>Location</b>: Location of removed seed. Free text can be grouped into categories for analysis. (Field type: comments)</li><li><b>fate</b>: Seed fate. Untouched = intact and not moved. Uneaten = removed but uneaten (dispersed). Eaten = eaten or partially eaten. Unknown = seed dragged into burrows, nests or up trees with seed fate unknown, presumed eaten in analsysis to be conservative about seed dispersal (Field type: categorical)</li><li><b>Day.3</b>: Fate of dispersed seeds on subsequent days, Day.3 - Day.6, where applicable, e.g. a seed dispersed on Day 4 would only be monitored on Day 5 and Day 6. Also, not all dispersed seeds could be practically monitored. (Field type: categorical)</li><li><b>Day.4</b>: Fate of dispersed seeds on subsequent days, Day.3 - Day.6, where applicable, e.g. a seed dispersed on Day 4 would only be monitored on Day 5 and Day 6. Also, not all dispersed seeds could be practically monitored. (Field type: categorical)</li><li><b>Day.5</b>: Fate of dispersed seeds on subsequent days, Day.3 - Day.6, where applicable, e.g. a seed dispersed on Day 4 would only be monitored on Day 5 and Day 6. Also, not all dispersed seeds could be practically monitored. (Field type: categorical)</li><li><b>Day.6</b>: Fate of dispersed seeds on subsequent days, Day.3 - Day.6, where applicable, e.g. a seed dispersed on Day 4 would only be monitored on Day 5 and Day 6. Also, not all dispersed seeds could be practically monitored. (Field type: categorical)</li></ul></li><li><p><b>Camera trap records</b> (described in worksheet Camera trap records)</p><p>Description: For each visit to seed experiment by animals recorded by camera traps, we recorded the functional group (large vertebrate or small vertebrate) and seed activity (eating or moving)</p><p>Number of fields: 12</p><p>Number of data rows: 2594</p><p>Fields: </p><ul><li><b>Grid</b>: Experimental site ID, with the same Grid identifier used in the core SAFE project small mammal trapping work -- see SAFE dataset 256 "CORE SAFE PROJECT SMALL MAMMAL TRAPPING DATA" (Field type: id)</li><li><b>Point</b>: experimental points, selected from the camera trap points in SAFE gazetteer (Field type: location)</li><li><b>Day</b>: The day of the camera trap record. Each experimental point was set up on Day 1 and checked on Day 2-6. This numeric variable is used for temporal analysis. For treating Day as a random effect, an additional "date" label can be created by pasting Grid and Day. (Field type: numeric)</li><li><b>trmt</b>: Experiment treatment. Control = seeds accessible by all animals, Cage = exclosure cage treatment with 10x10cm entrances where large vertebrates were excluded (Field type: categorical)</li><li><b>func.group</b>: functional group of the seed visitor (Field type: categorical)</li><li><b>animal.comment</b>: animal species if possible to identify on photos, with some level of uncertainty (Field type: taxa)</li><li><b>visit.number</b>: visit number of the apparent repeated visits by the same animal, with some level of uncertainty (Field type: numeric)</li><li><b>PIT.tag</b>: the PIT tag number of tagged animals entering cage, detected by the antenna and recorded by the data logger (Field type: id)</li><li><b>estimated.body.size</b>: body size estimate from photos, in mm, with some level of uncertainty (Field type: comments)</li><li><b>activity</b>: observed interaction with seeds, with details in the next column. For analysis, "investigate" was not considered an active interaction. (Field type: categorical)</li><li><b>activity.comment</b>: detailed comments on the activity (Field type: comments)</li><li><b>seed.type</b>: the seed type(s) interacted with, if possible to determine, with some level of uncertainty (Field type: categorical)</li></ul></li></ol><p><b>Date range: </b>2017-03-01 to 2017-10-31</p><p><b>Latitudinal extent: </b>4.6881 to 4.7519</p><p><b>Longitudinal extent: </b>116.9633 to 117.5934</p><p><b>Taxonomic coverage: </b><br> All taxon names are validated against the GBIF backbone taxonomy. If a dataset uses a synonym, the accepted usage is shown followed by the dataset usage in brackets. Taxa that cannot be validated, including new species and other unknown taxa, morphospecies, functional groups and taxonomic levels not used in the GBIF backbone are shown in square brackets.</p><div> -  Animalia <br> -  -  Chordata <br> -  -  -  Mammalia <br> -  -  -  -  Rodentia <br> -  -  -  -  -  Muridae <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Maxomys</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Maxomys surifer</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Maxomys rajah</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Sundamys</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Sundamys muelleri</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Rattus</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Rattus exulans</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Chrotomys</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Chrotomys whiteheadi</i> (as homotypic_synonym: <i>Maxomys whiteheadi</i>)<br> -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Leopoldamys</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Leopoldamys sabanus</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  Sciuridae <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Callosciurus</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Callosciurus notatus</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Callosciurus adamsi</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Lariscus</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Lariscus hosei</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Sundasciurus</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Sundasciurus lowii</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Sundasciurus tenuis</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Sundasciurus hippurus</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Rhinosciurus</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Rhinosciurus laticaudatus</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  Hystricidae <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Hystrix</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Hystrix brachyura</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Hystrix crassispinis</i> <br> -  -  -  -  Scandentia <br> -  -  -  -  -  Tupaiidae <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Tupaia</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Tupaia tana</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Tupaia gracilis</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Tupaia glis</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Tupaia minor</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Tupaia dorsalis</i> <br> -  -  -  -  Artiodactyla <br> -  -  -  -  -  Suidae <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Sus</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Sus barbatus</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  Tragulidae <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Tragulus</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Tragulus napu</i> <br> -  -  -  -  Erinaceomorpha <br> -  -  -  -  -  Erinaceidae <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Echinosorex</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Echinosorex gymnura</i> <br> -  -  -  -  Carnivora <br> -  -  -  -  -  Viverridae <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Viverra</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Viverra tangalunga</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Paguma</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Paguma larvata</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  Ursidae <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Helarctos</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Helarctos malayanus</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  Mustelidae <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Martes</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Martes flavigula</i> <br> -  -  -  Reptilia <br> -  -  -  -  Squamata <br> -  -  -  -  -  Gekkonidae <br> -  -  -  -  -  Scincidae <br> -  -  -  Aves <br> -  -  -  -  Columbiformes <br> -  -  -  -  -  Columbidae <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Chalcophaps</i> <br> -  -  -  -  Galliformes <br> -  -  -  -  -  Phasianidae <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Lophura</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Lophura ignita</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Argusianus</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Argusianus argus</i> <br> -  -  -  -  Passeriformes <br> -  -  -  -  -  Pellorneidae <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Malacocincla</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Malacocincla malaccensis</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Malacopteron</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Malacopteron affine</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Pellorneum</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Pellorneum capistratum</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  Muscicapidae <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Trichixos</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Trichixos pyrropygus</i> (as homotypic_synonym: <i>Copsychus pyrropygus</i>)<br> -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Enicurus</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Enicurus leschenaulti</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Enicurus borneensis</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Copsychus</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Copsychus stricklandii</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Copsychus stricklandii</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Copsychus malabaricus</i> <br> -  -  -  Amphibia <br> -  -  -  -  Anura <br> -  -  Arthropoda <br> -  -  -  Arachnida <br> -  -  -  -  Araneae <br> -  -  -  Malacostraca <br> -  -  -  -  Decapoda <br> -  -  -  Insecta <br> -  -  -  -  Lepidoptera <br> -  -  -  -  -  Nymphalidae <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Danaus</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Danaus plexippus</i> <br> -  -  -  -  Lepidoptera <br> -  -  -  -  -  Nymphalidae <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Danaus</i> <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Danaus plexippus</i> <br> -  -  -  -  Coleoptera <br> -  -  -  -  Phasmida <br> -  -  -  -  Orthoptera <br> -  -  -  -  -  Grasshooper <br> -  -  -  -  -  Gryllidae <br> -  -  -  -  Hymenoptera <br> -  -  -  -  -  Formicidae <br> -  -  Annelida <br> -  -  -  Clitellata <br> -  -  -  -  Arhynchobdellida <br> -  -  -  -  -  Haemadipsidae <br> -  -  -  -  -  -  <i>Haemadipsa</i> <br> -  -  Mollusca <br> -  -  -  Gastropoda <br></div><p></p>
Palm-primate interactions: Number of palm species and palm species identity in primate diets according to region (Africa, Asia, Madagascar, Neotropics); Parts of palm species consumed by primates according to region; palm species of high importance in primate diets according to region; palm seed dispersal by primates according to region
<p>We compiled data on palms in the diets of primates and on palm seed dispersal by primates to criticially discuss the hypothesis by Onstein et al. 2020 (Proc R Soc B) that "the interactions between primates and palms are related to the co-evolutionary dynamics of primate colour vision systems and palm fruit colours". Our copilation of data on interactions between palms and primates suggests that the mutualism-dependent co-diversification scenario deployed by Onstein et al. is not supported in view of the low<br> level of extant primate-palm interactions in Africa.</p>
Data from: Endozoochorous dispersal of forest seeds by carnivorous mammals in Sierra Fría, Aguascalientes, Mexico.
<p>Some carnivorous mammals ingest fruit and disperse seeds of forest plant species capable of colonizing disturbed areas in ecosystems. The objective of the study was to evaluate the dissemination of <i>Arctostaphylos pungens</i> and <i>Juniperus deppeana</i> seeds by the grey fox (<i>Urocyon cinereoargenteus</i>), coyote (<i>Canis latrans</i>) and other carnivores in the Protected Natural Area Sierra Fría, in Aguascalientes, Mexico. Scat collection was undertaken via transects using the direct search method. The dataset contains the geographical coordinates in UTM format of the location of each of the mammalian scats found. During the study, it was possible to find scats of four species of mammals: grey fox, coyote, ringtail (<i>Bassariscus astutus</i>) and bobcat (<i>Lynx rufus</i>), therefore, for each species, a different Excel file containing the coordinates of each scat found is presented separately. It is worth mentioning that each coordinate corresponds to each scat, so some coordinates are repeated, because several scats were found in the same site forming latrines.</p>
Data from: Cascading effects of forested area and isolation on seed dispersal effectiveness of rodents on subtropical islands
1. Habitat loss and fragmentation often leads to defaunation of large-bodied mammals, and their loss could trigger release from top-down control or food resource competition for small mammal seed dispersers, which in turn may affect the effectiveness of seed dispersal by altering the number of dispersed seeds or the manner in which they are dispersed. Although rodents are primary seed dispersers in habitat subjected to defaunation, changes in seed dispersal effectiveness of rodents along mammalian defaunation gradients, and empirical support for mechanisms underlying alteration of this ecological process, are unclear. 2. We assessed the direct and indirect effects of forested area and isolation on seed dispersal effectiveness of rodents on 21 study islands with varying levels of defaunation in the Thousand Island Lake, China. We used camera sampling, live traps, and semi-quantitative acorn counts to assess occurrence of large-bodied mammal species, relative abundance of small rodent species, and seed crop size, respectively. Seed dispersal, post-dispersal seed survival, seedling emergence, and seedling survival were estimated by tracking fates of tagged acorns and by planting acorns in exclosures. 3. Forested area had positive indirect effects on seed dispersal effectiveness through defaunation and rodent competition for acorns, whereas isolation had negative direct and weaker positive indirect effects on seed dispersal effectiveness mediated by loss of large-bodied mammals and rodent competition for acorns. Loss of large-bodied mammals negatively affected seed dispersal effectiveness indirectly by virtue of its impact on rodent competition for acorns. Seed dispersal effectiveness exhibited a unimodal relationship with intensity of rodent competition for acorns, peaking at intermediate levels. 4. Synthesis. Indirect effects of island attributes mediated by defaunation of large-bodied mammals on small or isolated islands appear to drive altered competition for food among rodents and decreased seed dispersal effectiveness. Altered interactions between acorns and their rodent consumers/dispersers can substantially affect oak population demography in the Thousand Island Lake system. More broadly our findings highlight the importance to the seed dispersal process of multiple interwoven effects between habitat fragmentation and defaunation of large-bodied mammals.
Data from: Bird-mediated seed dispersal: reduced digestive efficiency in active birds modulates the dispersal capacity of plant seeds
Plant populations in fragmented ecosystems rely largely on internal dispersal by animals. To unravel the mechanisms underlying this mode of dispersal, an increasing number of experimental feeding studies is carried out. However, while physical activity is known to affect vertebrate digestive processes, almost all current knowledge on mechanisms of internal seed dispersal has been obtained from experiments with resting animals. We investigated how physical activity of the mallard Anas platyrhynchos, probably the quantitatively most important biotic dispersal agent in aquatic habitats in the entire Northern Hemisphere, affects gut passage survival and retention time of ingested plant seeds. We fed seeds of nine common wetland plants to mallards trained to subsequently swim for six hours in a flume tank at different swimming speeds (activity levels). We compared gut passage survival and retention times of seeds against a control treatment with mallards resting in a conventional dry cage. Intact gut passage of seeds increased significantly with mallard activity (up to 80% in the fastest swimming treatment compared to the control), identifying reduced digestive efficiency due to increased metabolic rates as a mechanism enhancing the dispersal potential of ingested seeds. Gut passage speed was modestly accelerated (13% on average) by increased mallard activity, an effect partly obscured by the interaction between seed retention time and probability of digestion. Gut passage acceleration will be more pronounced in digestion-resilient seed species, thereby modulating their dispersal distances. Our findings imply that seed dispersal potential by mallards calculated from previous experiments with resting birds is highly underestimated, while dispersal distances may be overestimated for some plant species. Similar effects of physical activity on digestive efficiency of mammals suggests that endozoochorous dispersal of plant seeds by vertebrates is more effective and plays a quantitatively more important ecological role in both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems than previously thought.
Data from: Special delivery: scavengers direct seed dispersal towards ungulate carcasses
Cadaver decomposition-islands around animal carcasses can facilitate establishment of various plant life. Facultative scavengers have great potential for endozoochory, and often aggregate around carcasses. Hence, they may disperse plant seeds that they ingest across the landscape towards cadaver decomposition-islands. Here, we demonstrate this novel mechanism along a gradient of wild tundra reindeer carcasses. First, we show that the spatial distribution of scavenger feces (birds and foxes) was concentrated around carcasses. Second, feces of the predominant scavengers (corvids) commonly contained viable seeds of crowberry, a keystone species of the alpine tundra with predominantly vegetative reproduction. We suggest that cadaver decomposition-islands function as endpoints for directed endozoochory by scavengers. Such a mechanism could be especially beneficial for species that rely on small scale disturbances in soil and vegetation, such as several Nordic berry-producing species with cryptic generative reproduction.
Data from: Effects of increasing aridity and chronic anthropogenic disturbance on seed dispersal by ants in Brazilian Caatinga
1. Anthropogenic disturbance and climate change are the main drivers of biodiversity loss and ecological services around the globe. There is concern that climate change will exacerbate the impacts of disturbance and thereby promote biotic homogenization, but its consequences for ecological services are unknown. 2. We investigated the individual and interactive effects of increasing chronic anthropogenic disturbance (CAD) and aridity on seed dispersal services provided by ants in Caatinga vegetation of northeastern Brazil. 3. The study was conducted in Catimbau National Park, Pernambuco, Brazil. Within an area of 214 km2, we established nineteen 50 x 20 m plots that encompassed gradients of both CAD and aridity. We offered diaspores of six plant species, three myrmecochorous diaspores and three fleshy fruits that are secondarily dispersed by ants. We then quantified the number of interactions, seed removal rate and dispersal distances, and noted the identities of interacting ant species. Finally, we used pitfall trap data to quantify the abundances of ant disperser species in each plot. 4. Our results show that overall composition of ant disperser species varied along the gradients of CAD and aridity, but the composition of high-quality dispersers varied only with aridity. The total number of interactions, rates of removal and mean distance of removal all declined with increasing aridity, but they were not related to CAD. These same patterns were found when considering only high-quality disperser species, driven by the responses of the dominant disperser Dinoponera quadriceps. We found little evidence of interactive effects of CAD and aridity on seed dispersal services by ants. 5. Our study indicates that CAD and aridity act independently on ant-mediated seed dispersal services in Caatinga, such that the impacts of anthropogenic disturbance are unlikely to change under the forecast climate of increased aridity. However, our findings highlight the vulnerability of seed dispersal services provided by ants in Caatinga under an increasingly arid climate due to low functional redundancy in high-quality disperser species. Given the large number of plant species dependent on ants for seed dispersal, this has important implications for future plant recruitment and, consequently, for the composition of Caatinga plant communities.
Data from: Competition, seed dispersal, and hunting: what drives germination and seedling survival in an Afrotropical forest?
Disentangling the contributions of different processes that influence plant recruitment, such as competition and seed dispersal, is important given the increased human-mediated changes in tropical forest ecosystems. Previous studies have shown that seedling communities in an Afro-tropical rainforest in Southeastern Nigeria are strongly affected by the loss of important seed dispersing primates, including Cross River gorillas (Gorilla gorilla diehli), chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes elioti), and drill (Mandrillus leucophaeus). Here we study how germination and survival of tree seedlings are affected by competition and reduced seed-dispersal in three contiguous forest reserves, in Southeastern Nigeria, with similar mature tree species composition and structure. We use an experimental design aimed at manipulating the effect of competition among seedlings in three protected and three hunted sites within the reserves. We use a total of sixty 5×5 m plots of three types: plots cleared of all seedlings, plots selectively cleared of all primate-dispersed seedlings and control plots. All seedlings were identified, measured, assigned to dispersal mode, and tagged, and after one year we evaluated survival, mortality and new recruits. We found that in hunted sites germination of abiotically dispersed species was over four times higher in cleared plots compared to control plots, whereas germination of primate dispersed species was the same, which indicated that dispersal limitation was the dominant force in seedling recruitment in hunted sites. This was supported by the fact that the germination of all dispersal modes in the selectively cleared plots in protected sites was similar to the control plots in the same sites, but germination of abiotically dispersed species was significantly lower than in cleared plots in hunted sites. Competition among seedlings was mostly evident from the fact that 75% more seedlings of primate dispersed species germinated in cleared compared to control plots in protected sites. We conclude that inter-seedling competition may be irrelevant to seedling recruitment in hunted sites, where dispersal limitation appears to be a much stronger force shaping the seedling plant community, and thus hunting indirectly reverses the importance of competition and dispersal limitation in structuring seedling communities.
Data from: Interactions between seed traits and digestive processes determine the germinability of bird-dispersed seeds
Waterbirds disperse a wide range of plant seeds via their guts, promoting biotic connectivity between isolated habitat patches. However, the intensity of digestive forces encountered by seeds, and therefore their potential to survive digestive tract passage, varies within and between waterbird species. Here, we investigate under controlled conditions how the interaction between seed traits and digestive strategies affect the germinability of seeds following waterbird-mediated dispersal. We exposed seeds of 30 wetland plant species to the main digestive processes in the dabbling duck digestive system: mechanical, chemical and intestinal digestion. These were simulated by 1) a pressure test and scarification treatment, 2) incubation in simulated gastric juice, and 3) incubation in intestinal contents of culled mallards (Anas platyrhynchos). We evaluated their separate and combined effects on seed germination, and identified the role of seed size and seed coat traits in resisting the digestive forces. Seeds were generally resistant to separate digestive processes, but highly sensitive to a combination. Resistance to mechanical break-down was reduced by up to 80% by chemical pre-treatment, especially for seeds with permeable coats. Scarified seeds were 12–17% more vulnerable to chemical and intestinal digestive processes than undamaged seeds. Large seeds and seeds with thin, permeable coats were particularly sensitive to chemical and intestinal digestion. These results indicate that efficient digestion of seeds requires multiple digestive processes. The gizzard, responsible for mechanical digestion, plays a key role in seed survival. Omnivorous birds, which have relatively light gizzards compared to pure herbivores or granivores, are thus most likely to disperse seeds successfully. Regardless of digestive strategy, small seeds with tough seed coats are most resistant to digestion and may be adapted to endozoochorous dispersal by waterbirds.
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Allen Brain Atlas
Allen Brain Atlas is an Allen Institute collection of brain map atlases, datasets, APIs, and analysis tools covering mouse, human, and non-human primate brain resources.
Annotated Behaviour and Observability Dataset (ABODe)
ABODe is a University of Edinburgh DataShare dataset for behavior classification in group-housed mice using home-cage video, identities, bounding boxes, ground-plate positions, and annotator labels.
DANDI Archive for NWB datasets
DANDI is a BRAIN Initiative archive for publishing and sharing neurophysiology data, including electrophysiology, optophysiology, and behavioral data packaged as NWB and related standards.
International Brain Laboratory public data
The International Brain Laboratory public data releases expose standardized mouse decision-making experiments, including Neuropixels recordings, widefield calcium imaging, behavior, and session metadata accessed through the ONE API.
OpenNeuro
OpenNeuro is a free, open platform for sharing neuroimaging datasets, with public search, dataset pages, and download paths for web, S3, DataLad, and the OpenNeuro CLI.