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126 results for “seed predation”
Data from: Cascading effects of apex predator recovery on rodent foraging activity and seed predation
This dataset was collected to examine the effects of apex predator presence on post-dispersal seed predation and rodent foraging behavior in Mediterranean ecosystems of southern Spain. The study focused on the Iberian lynx (Lynx pardinus) as a top predator capable of altering mesopredator and small mammal communities through cascading interactions. We used the fleshy-fruited tree Pyrus bourgaeana as a model species and conducted a seed predation experiment in two areas with and without lynx presence. A total of 1152 seeds were placed in 144 seed depots across forest and open habitats and three microhabitat types (rock, shrub, and open ground). Rodent activity and foraging behavior were monitored using 36 camera traps installed at a subset of seed depots, and rodent abundance was estimated with live trapping one week later. The dataset includes seed predation counts, camera-trap records of rodent visits, live-trapping results, and vegetation cover estimates. These data allow investigation of how predation risk and habitat structure influence rodent activity and post-dispersal seed predation dynamics in Mediterranean landscapes.
Dataset from Pardini, E. A., Parsons, L. S., Ştefan, V., & Knight, T. M. (2018). GLMM BACI environmental impact analysis shows coastal dune restoration reduces seed predation on an endangered plant. Restoration Ecology, 26(6), 1190-1194.
<p>Data and its metadata used in the analysis from the publication: Pardini, E. A., Parsons, L. S., Ştefan, V., & Knight, T. M. (2018). GLMM BACI environmental impact analysis shows coastal dune restoration reduces seed predation on an endangered plant. Restoration Ecology, 26(6), 1190-1194. <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/rec.12678">https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/rec.12678</a> </p>
Data for: Functional redundancy of weed seed predation is reduced by intensified agriculture
<p>Intensive agriculture, a driver of biodiversity loss, can diminish ecosystem functions and their stability. Biodiversity can increase functional redundancy and is expected to stabilize ecosystem functions. Few studies however have explored how agricultural intensity affects functional redundancy and its link with ecosystem function stability. Here, within a continent-wide study, we assess how the functional redundancy of seed predation is affected by agricultural intensity and landscape simplification. By combining carabid abundances with molecular gut content data, functional redundancy of seed predation was quantified for 65 weed genera across 60 fields in four European countries. Across weed genera, functional redundancy was reduced with high field management intensity and simplified crop rotations. Moreover, functional redundancy increased the spatial stability of weed seed predation within fields. We found that ecosystem functions are vulnerable to disturbance in intensively managed agroecosystems, providing empirical evidence of the importance of biodiversity for stable ecosystem functions across space.</p>
Data and code from: Invasive grass indirectly alters seasonal patterns in seed predation
<p>Invasive species threaten ecosystems globally, but their impacts can be cryptic when they occur indirectly. Invader phenology can also differ from that of native species, potentially causing seasonality in invader impacts. Yet, it is unclear if invader phenology can drive seasonal patterns in indirect effects. We used a field experiment to test if an invasive grass (<em>Imperata cylindrica</em>) caused seasonal indirect effects by altering rodent foraging and seed predation patterns through time. Using seeds from native longleaf pine (<em>Pinus palustris</em>), we found seed predation was 25% greater, on average, in invaded than control plots, but this effect varied by season. Seed predation was 24% - 157% greater in invaded plots during spring and fall months, but invasion had no effect on seed predation in other months. One of the largest effects occurred in October when longleaf pine seeds are dispersed, suggesting potential effects on tree regeneration. Thus, seasonal patterns in indirect effects from invaders may cause underappreciated impacts on ecological communities.</p>
Small mammals reduce distance-dependence and increase seed predation risk in tropical rainforest fragments
Seed predation and reduced predation risk with distance from conspecific trees are important influences on tree regeneration in tropical forests. Shifts in animal communities, such as an increase in rodents and other small mammals due to forest fragmentation, could alter patterns of seed predation and affect tree regeneration and community dynamics in forest fragments. We performed a field experiment on four native rainforest tree species in the Western Ghats, India, to test whether fragmentation increases seed predation by mammals and alters the distance-dependence of seed predation. We monitored seed predation within open and mammal-exclosure plots, near and far from the canopies of conspecific trees, in contiguous and fragmented forests. Seed predation of Cullenia exarillata, Ormosia travancorica, and Syzygium rubicundum was markedly higher in forest fragments, and more so within open plots than exclosures, while the predominantly insect-predated Acronychia pedunculata experienced similar predation in contiguous forests and fragments. Seed predation of C. exarillata and S. rubicundum was unrelated to distance from conspecific trees in open plots in both contiguous forests and fragments, in contrast to exclosures that showed marked near versus far differences in seed predation. Our findings suggest that by increasing overall seed predation risk and imposing similar seed predation risk near and far from adults variably across the tree species, small mammals could alter processes that shape tree diversity and species composition in fragmented tropical rainforests.
Tropical–temperate comparisons in insect seed predation vary between study levels and years
<p>The biotic interaction hypothesis, which states the species interaction becomes stronger in the tropics, is deeply rooted in classic ecological literature and widely accepted to contribute to the latitudinal gradients of biodiversity. Tests in latitudinal insect-plant interaction have emphasized leaf-eating insects on a single or a few plant species rather than within an entire community and mixed accumulating evidence, leaving the biotic interaction hypothesis disputed. We aimed to test the hypothesis by quantifying seed predation by insects in a pair of tropical and temperate forest communities with similar elevations. We applied a consistent study design to sample pre-dispersal seeds with systematically set seed traps in 2019-2020 and examined internally feeding insects. The intensity of seed predation was measured and further applied to tropical versus temperate comparison at two levels (cross-species and community-wide). Our results showed every latitudinal pattern associated with different study levels and years, i.e., negative (greater granivory in the tropics in community-wide comparison in 2020), positive (less granivory in the tropics in community-wide and cross-species comparison in 2019), and missing (similar level of granivory in the tropics in cross-species comparisons in 2020). The cross-species level analyses ignore differences among species in seed production and weaken or even lose the latitudinal trend detected by community-wide comparisons. The between-year discrepancy in tropical-temperate comparisons relates to the highly variable annual seed composition in the temperate forest due to mast seeding of dominant species. Our study highlights that long-term community-level researches across biomes are essential to assess the latitudinal biotic interaction hypothesis.</p>
Figure 1 in Behavioral aspects and predation of seeds of Cardiospermum grandiflorum Swartz (Sapindaceae) by Cissoanthonomus tuberculipennis Hustache (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)
Figure 1. Cissoanthonomus tuberculipennis. (a) Developing fruits, with oviposition hole indicated by arrow. (b) Egg. Photos by Marcoandre Savaris.
Figure 3 in Behavioral aspects and predation of seeds of Cardiospermum grandiflorum Swartz (Sapindaceae) by Cissoanthonomus tuberculipennis Hustache (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)
Figure 3. Cissoanthonomus tuberculipennis. (a) Pupa. (b) Adult. Scale line = 1 mm. Photos by Paulo Roberto Valle da Silva Pereira.
Figure 2 in Behavioral aspects and predation of seeds of Cardiospermum grandiflorum Swartz (Sapindaceae) by Cissoanthonomus tuberculipennis Hustache (Coleoptera: Curculionidae)
Figure 2. Cissoanthonomus tuberculipennis. (a) Larva. (b) Damaged and healthy seeds. Photos by Paulo Roberto Valle da Silva Pereira.
Figure 1 in Seed predation heterogeneity in the loculate fruits of a Mediterranean bushy plant
Figure 1. Comparison between expected (filled bars) and observed (open bars) entropy values in the proportion of fruits with different numbers of locules within individual plants. Expected values according to a null hypothesis of random production of fruits (n550, x2590.76, df53, P,0.001).
Figure 3 in Seed predation heterogeneity in the loculate fruits of a Mediterranean bushy plant
Figure 3. Sample variances and frequency distribution functions of proportion of the fruit destroyed by insect predators for different types of fruits (with 7–10 locules). Variance decreases when increasing locule number (Gamma correlation: z522.04; P,0.05). Least squares fitting line is shown to facilitate visualization.
Figure 2 in Seed predation heterogeneity in the loculate fruits of a Mediterranean bushy plant
Figure 2. Frequency distribution of fruits with different numbers of locules (random sample of 550 fruits).
Insect seed and cone predation reduces reproductive potential of treeline conifers across northern Canada
<p><strong>Aim</strong>: Altitudinal and latitudinal treeline ecotones have not consistently responded to climate warming the in direction and/or magnitude as predicted by climate alone, suggesting that non-climatic mechanisms (e.g., biotic interactions) are also mediating treeline range dynamics. Through a collaborative research approach, we assessed environmental conditions associated with insect cone granivory and how this biotic interaction may govern the reproductive potential, and therefore range dynamics, of spruce-dominated treelines across northern Canada. </p> <p><strong>Location</strong>: Ten boreal forest treelines, tundra and alpine, from Yukon to Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada</p> <p><strong>Taxa</strong>: White spruce (<em>Picea</em> <em>glauca</em> (Moench) Voss), Black spruce (<em>Picea</em> <em>mariana</em> (Mill.) B.S.P.), <em>Strobilomyia</em> spp., <em>Megastigmus</em> spp.</p> <p><strong>Methods</strong>: Treeline sites were assessed for presence and magnitude of pre-seed dispersal granivory by insects, and viability of available seed was determined. We quantified stand density metrics, organic layer depth, and understory vegetation composition at each location and, subsequently, incorporated those variables into generalized linear mixed models to establish predictors of granivory magnitude and viability of available seed. </p> <p><strong>Results</strong>: Our findings reveal the widespread presence of insect granivory across sites, however, site-specific patterns of granivory were associated with increased moss cover and decreased shrub cover and stand density. While all black-spruce-dominated sites exhibited seed viability rates greater than 50%, the number of seeds produced per cone varied, suggesting that within-site abiotic conditions and biotic interaction pressures limit successful colonization of novel environments in advance of seed dispersal. </p> <p><strong>Main</strong> <strong>Conclusions</strong>: Results from the modelled relationships between cone granivory, seed viability, and environmental conditions represent an essential step toward generalizing how and when biotic interactions across subarctic treelines influence boreal tree range dynamics before seed dispersal. Connections between granivory magnitude and site-level stand density will help establish how treeline form (e.g., discrete or diffuse) may drive patterns of future insect outbreaks under continued climate warming. </p>
Insect seed and cone predation reduces reproductive potential of treeline conifers across northern Canada
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Tropical–temperate comparisons in insect seed predation vary between study levels and years
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Data for: Functional redundancy of weed seed predation is reduced by intensified agriculture
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Data and code from: Invasive grass indirectly alters seasonal patterns in seed predation
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Small mammals reduce distance-dependence and increase seed predation risk in tropical rainforest fragments
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Data from: The ecology and evolution of seed predation by Darwin's finches on Tribulus cistoides on the Galápagos Islands
Predator-prey interactions play a key role in the evolution of species traits through antagonistic coevolutionary arms-races. The evolution of beak morphology in the Darwin's finches in response to competition for seed resources is a classic example of evolution by natural selection. The seeds of Tribulus cistoides are an important food source for the largest ground finch species (Geospiza fortis, G. magnirostris, and G. conirostris) in dry months, and the hard spiny morphology of the fruits are a potent agent of selection that drives contemporary evolutionary change in finch beak morphology. Although the effects of these interaction on finches are well known, how seed predation affects the ecology and evolution of the plants is poorly understood. Here we examine whether seed predation by Darwin's finches affects the ecology and evolution of T. cistoides. We ask whether the intensity of seed predation and the strength of natural selection by finches on fruit defense traits varies among populations, islands, years, or with varying finch community composition (i.e., the presence/absence of the largest beaked species, which feed on T. cistoides most easily). We then further test whether T. cistoides fruit defenses have diverged among islands in response to spatial variation in finch communities. We addressed these questions by examining seed predation by finches in 30 populations of T. cistoides over three years. Our study reveals three key results. First, Darwin's finches strongly influence T. cistoides seed survival, whereby seed predation varies with differences in finch community composition among islands and in response to inter-annual fluctuations in precipitation. Second, finches impose phenotypic selection on T. cistoides fruit morphology, whereby smaller and harder fruits with longer or more spines exhibited higher seed survival. Variation in finch community composition and precipitation also explains variation in phenotypic selection on fruit defense traits. Third, variation in the number of spines on fruits among islands is consistent with divergent phenotypic selection imposed by variation in finch community composition among islands. These results suggest that Darwin's finches and T. cistoides are experiencing an ongoing coevolutionary arms-race, and that the strength of this coevolution varies in space and time.
Data from: Seed size predicts global effects of small mammal seed predation on plant recruitment
<p>We conducted a global literature review and meta-analysis to evaluate whether seed size could predict post-dispersal seed predator effects on seed removal and plant recruitment, respectively. Datasets were built using data extracted from published studies focusing on seed predation by small mammals (see Methods for criteria and data extraction protocol). We found that seed size predicted small mammal seed removal rates and their impacts on plant recruitment consistent with optimal foraging theory, with intermediate seed sizes most strongly impacted globally - for both native and exotic plants. However, differences in seed size distributions among ecosystems conditioned seed predation patterns, with relatively larger-seeded species most strongly affected in grasslands (smallest seeds), and relatively smaller-seeded species most strongly affected in tropical forests (largest seeds). Such size-dependent seed predation has profound implications for coexistence among plants because it may enhance or weaken opposing life-history tradeoffs in an ecosystem-specific manner. Our results suggest that seed size may serve as a key life-history trait that can integrate consumer effects to improve understandings of plant coexistence. </p>
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Allen Brain Atlas
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