Influence of gibbon ranging patterns on seed dispersal distance and deposition site in a Bornean forest

2007 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 269-275 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kim R. McConkey ◽  
David J. Chivers
Keyword(s):  
Home Range ◽  
Seed Dispersal ◽  
Time Of Day ◽  
Dispersal Distance ◽  
Ranging Patterns ◽  
Seed Shadow ◽  
Dipterocarp Forests ◽  
Home Range Use ◽  
Dispersal Distances ◽  
Seed Shadows

Frugivores display daily and seasonal behavioural variation, yet the influence of this variability on subsequent seed shadows is rarely considered. We investigated the extent to which three aspects of gibbon (Hylobates muelleri × agilis) foraging and ranging behaviour (revisitation of favoured fruit sources, daily and monthly ranging patterns) influenced seed dispersal distances and deposition sites for two groups in dipterocarp forests at the Barito Ulu research site, Kalimantan, Indonesia. Dispersal distances and sites were estimated using gut retention times and ranging patterns collected over 12 mo. Gibbons dispersed few seeds (0.7%) under parent trees and most seeds (> 90%) were dispersed more than 100 m. Mean dispersal distances differed significantly between groups (339 m and 431 m) and across different months. Deposition site was only influenced by time of day, with all seeds swallowed in the first hour of activity being deposited under sleeping trees used that night. Both groups visited all 0.25-ha quadrats within their home range over the study period, indicating that gibbons potentially disperse seeds throughout their home range. Given the general uniformity of the gibbon seed shadow, the intensity of home range use and large seed dispersal distances, gibbons appear to be consistently effective seed dispersers and are probably one of the most important frugivores in Asian rain forests.

scholarly journals Animal movement drives variation in seed dispersal distance in a plant–animal network

2019 ◽  
Vol 286 (1894) ◽  
pp. 20182007 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Rehm ◽  
E. Fricke ◽  
J. Bender ◽  
J. Savidge ◽  
H. Rogers
Keyword(s):  
Seed Dispersal ◽  
Animal Movement ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Dispersal Distance ◽  
Dispersal Patterns ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Gut Passage ◽  
Dispersal Distances ◽  
Seed Dispersal Distance ◽  
Passage Times

Frugivores play differing roles in shaping dispersal patterns yet seed dispersal distance is rarely quantified across entire communities. We model seed dispersal distance using gut passage times and bird movement for the majority (39 interactions) of known bird–tree interactions on the island of Saipan to highlight differences in seed dispersal distances provided by the five avian frugivores. One bird species was found to be a seed predator rather than a disperser. The remaining four avian species dispersed seeds but differences in seed dispersal distance were largely driven by interspecific variation in bird movement rather than intraspecific variation in gut passage times. The median dispersal distance was at least 56 m for all species-specific combinations, indicating all species play a role in reducing high seed mortality under the parent tree. However, one species—the Micronesian Starling—performed 94% of dispersal events greater than 500 m, suggesting this species could be a key driver of long-distance dispersal services (e.g. linking populations, colonizing new areas). Assessing variation in dispersal patterns across this network highlights key sources of variation in seed dispersal distances and suggests which empirical approaches are sufficient for modelling how seed dispersal mutualisms affect populations and communities.

scholarly journals Dispersal distances and migration rates at the arctic treeline in Siberia – a genetic and simulation-based study

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. 1211-1224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Kruse ◽  
Alexander Gerdes ◽  
Nadja J. Kath ◽  
Laura S. Epp ◽  
Kathleen R. Stoof-Leichsenring ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Seed Dispersal ◽  
Parentage Analysis ◽  
Dispersal Distance ◽  
Climate Feedback ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Central Siberia ◽  
Migration Rates ◽  
Dispersal Distances ◽  
And Migration

Abstract. A strong temperature increase in the Arctic is expected to lead to latitudinal treeline shift. This tundra–taiga turnover would cause a positive vegetation–climate feedback due to albedo decrease. However, reliable estimates of tree migration rates are currently lacking due to the complex processes involved in forest establishment, which depend strongly on seed dispersal. We aim to fill this gap using LAVESI, an individual-based and spatially explicit Larix vegetation simulator. LAVESI was designed to simulate plots within homogeneous forests. Here, we improve the implementation of the seed dispersal function via field-based investigations. We inferred the effective seed dispersal distances of a typical open-forest stand on the southern Taymyr Peninsula (northern central Siberia) from genetic parentage analysis using eight nuclear microsatellite markers. The parentage analysis gives effective seed dispersal distances (median ∼10 m) close to the seed parents. A comparison between simulated and observed effective seed dispersal distances reveals an overestimation of recruits close to the releasing tree and a shorter dispersal distance generally. We thus adapted our model and used the newly parameterised version to simulate south-to-north transects; a slow-moving treeline front was revealed. The colonisation of the tundra areas was assisted by occasional long-distance seed dispersal events beyond the treeline area. The treeline (∼1 tree ha−1) advanced by ∼1.6 m yr−1, whereas the forest line (∼100 trees ha−1) advanced by only ∼0.6 m yr−1. We conclude that the treeline in northern central Siberia currently lags behind the current strong warming and will continue to lag in the near future.

Gender-specific dispersal distances of grizzly bears estimated by genetic analysis

2004 ◽  
Vol 82 (7) ◽  
pp. 1108-1118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael F Proctor ◽  
Bruce N McLellan ◽  
Curtis Strobeck ◽  
Robert M.R Barclay
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Analysis ◽  
Home Range ◽  
Ursus Arctos ◽  
Dispersal Distance ◽  
Natal Dispersal ◽  
Grizzly Bears ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Generation Times ◽  
Natal Home ◽  
Dispersal Distances

Natal dispersal is difficult to quantify, and long-distance events are often undetected, leading to biased estimates. Following offspring from their natal home range to their postdispersal adult breeding home range is challenging, and gathering sufficient data for large mammals with long generation times is particularly difficult. Here we measure average sex-specific dispersal distances in grizzly bears (Ursus arctos L., 1758) using individual-based genetic analysis. We genetically sampled and generated 15-locus microsatellite genotypes for 711 grizzly bears over a range of 100 000 km2 in southwestern Canada. Microsatellite markers are inherited in a Mendelian fashion, allowing us to use likelihood-based parentage analyses to estimate parent–offspring dyads. We used the distance between individually captured females of parent–offspring pairs (i.e., mother–daughter) to estimate female natal dispersal distances and found that, on average, females dispersed 14.3 km from the center of their natal home range. We used the distance between males of parent–offspring pairs (i.e., father–son) to estimate average male dispersal distances and found that males dispersed, on average, 41.9 km from their natal, or maternal, home range (mother–son dispersal distance). We used a simulation model to estimate the bias associated with measuring the father–son (male–male) distance as an estimate of the mother–son distance.

scholarly journals Long Distance Seed Dispersal by Forest Elephants

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
John R. Poulsen ◽  
Christopher Beirne ◽  
Colin Rundel ◽  
Melissa Baldino ◽  
Seokmin Kim ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Seed Dispersal ◽  
National Parks ◽  
Community Dynamics ◽  
Passage Time ◽  
Dispersal Distance ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Gut Passage ◽  
Average Maximum ◽  
Forest Elephants ◽  
Dispersal Distances

By dispersing seeds long distances, large, fruit-eating animals influence plant population spread and community dynamics. After fruit consumption, animal gut passage time and movement determine seed dispersal patterns and distances. These, in turn, are influenced by extrinsic, environmental variables and intrinsic, individual-level variables. We simulated seed dispersal by forest elephants (Loxodonta cyclotis) by integrating gut passage data from wild elephants with movement data from 96 individuals. On average, elephants dispersed seeds 5.3 km, with 89% of seeds dispersed farther than 1 km. The longest simulated seed dispersal distance was 101 km, with an average maximum dispersal distance of 40.1 km. Seed dispersal distances varied among national parks, perhaps due to unmeasured environmental differences such as habitat heterogeneity and configuration, but not with human disturbance or habitat openness. On average, male elephants dispersed seeds farther than females. Elephant behavioral traits strongly influenced dispersal distances, with bold, exploratory elephants dispersing seeds 1.1 km farther than shy, idler elephants. Protection of forest elephants, particularly males and highly mobile, exploratory individuals, is critical to maintaining long distance seed dispersal services that shape plant communities and tropical forest habitat.

Can fruiting plants control animal behaviour and seed dispersal distance?

Behaviour ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 152 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 359-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Beaune ◽  
François Bretagnolle ◽  
Loïc Bollache ◽  
Gottfried Hohmann ◽  
Barbara Fruth
Keyword(s):  
Seed Dispersal ◽  
Plant Species ◽  
Fruit Quality ◽  
Population Biology ◽  
Dispersal Distance ◽  
Feeding Time ◽  
Fruit Traits ◽  
Dispersal Distances ◽  
Dispersal Vector ◽  
Seed Dispersal Distance

In an Afrotropical forest, we tested the hypothesis that fleshy-fruit plants with interspecific differences in fruit quality and quantity affect ranging behaviour of their seed dispersal vector. If fruiting plants could affect their dispersal vector, the plants also affect their seed dispersal distance and eventually their plant population biology. From 2007 to 2011, we measured seed transport by georeference daily bonobo group movements via GPS. Seed dispersal distance was estimated with mechanistic model, using 1200 georeferenced dispersal events and the average seed transit time through bonobo (24.00 h). We compared dissemination for eight plant species that deal with this trade-off: attracting dispersers by means of fruit quality/quantity versus retaining them in the patch because of the same quality/quantity value that attracted them. Because fruit traits of these eight species were different, we expected a difference in seed dispersal distance. Surprisingly, seed dispersal distances induced by bonobos were not affected by fruit traits. Although fruit nutrient contents, abundance and average patch feeding duration differed between plant species, patch feeding time was not related to subsequent dispersal distances. The apes’ dispersal distance survey gave an average dispersal distance estimated of 1332 ± 24 m from the parent plant (97.9% > 100 m). To conclude, feeding time invested in the patch, fruit quality and abundance had no apparent effect on bonobo seed dispersal distance. The possible effects in plant population biology are discussed.

Seed dispersal ecology of non-restricted frugivores, capuchin monkeys in three neotropical forests

2007 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 519-528 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elisabet V. Wehncke ◽  
César A. Domínguez
Keyword(s):  
Seed Dispersal ◽  
Evolutionary Significance ◽  
Capuchin Monkeys ◽  
Feeding Time ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Neotropical Forests ◽  
Fruit Species ◽  
Seed Dispersers ◽  
Dispersal Distances ◽  
Seed Shadows

Seed dispersal by frugivorous animals has the potential to affect both the demography and the patterns of gene flow of plant populations. In many tropical and subtropical forests a large number of seeds are efficiently dispersed by ‘non-restricted frugivores’ (NRFs, animals for which fruits do not represent the main bulk of their diet), a group commonly underestimated as seed dispersers. Here, we synthesize data from three different neotropical forests (Argentina, Panama and Costa Rica), evaluating several aspects of seed dispersal by two species of Cebus monkeys. Capuchin monkeys are NRFs broadly distributed throughout Central and South America that are potentially long-distance seed dispersers. In this study we evaluated the influence of the foraging behaviour of Cebus apella and C. capucinus on the patterns of seed dispersal. Even though the distribution of fruit types significantly differed among forests, no evidence of diet selection was found, indicating that the fruits consumed by monkeys represent a random sample of the pool available at each site. Neither seed treatment, nor the evenness with which fruit species were consumed, differed among forests. In contrast, the feeding time per fruiting tree (10–45 min), the diversity of fruits consumed (H = 2–3.3), and seed dispersal distances (100–400 m), differed among the three forests. Thus, capuchin monkeys consume a high diversity of fruits in transit producing a scattered dissemination of seeds in all study forests. This study highlights the ecological and evolutionary significance of seed shadows generated by NRFs, without neglecting the possibility that differences in the distribution of fruit patches, species richness and a range of environmental attributes among the studied forests, exert a strong influence on the outcome of the interaction between NRFs and plants.

scholarly journals Seed-dispersal distributions by trumpeter hornbills in fragmented landscapes

2011 ◽  
Vol 278 (1716) ◽  
pp. 2257-2264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johanna Lenz ◽  
Wolfgang Fiedler ◽  
Tanja Caprano ◽  
Wolfgang Friedrichs ◽  
Bernhard H. Gaese ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Seed Dispersal ◽  
Agricultural Landscape ◽  
Dispersal Distance ◽  
Climatic Conditions ◽  
Fragmented Landscape ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
Frugivorous Birds ◽  
Fragmented Landscapes ◽  
Habitat Patches ◽  
Dispersal Distances

Frugivorous birds provide important ecosystem services by transporting seeds of fleshy fruited plants. It has been assumed that seed-dispersal kernels generated by these animals are generally leptokurtic, resulting in little dispersal among habitat fragments. However, little is known about the seed-dispersal distribution generated by large frugivorous birds in fragmented landscapes. We investigated movement and seed-dispersal patterns of trumpeter hornbills ( Bycanistes bucinator ) in a fragmented landscape in South Africa. Novel GPS loggers provide high-quality location data without bias against recording long-distance movements. We found a very weakly bimodal seed-dispersal distribution with potential dispersal distances up to 14.5 km. Within forest, the seed-dispersal distribution was unimodal with an expected dispersal distance of 86 m. In the fragmented agricultural landscape, the distribution was strongly bimodal with peaks at 18 and 512 m. Our results demonstrate that seed-dispersal distributions differed when birds moved in different habitat types. Seed-dispersal distances in fragmented landscapes show that transport among habitat patches is more frequent than previously assumed, allowing plants to disperse among habitat patches and to track the changing climatic conditions.

Radio-tracking observations on ranging and foraging patterns by kinkajous (Potos flavus) in French Guiana

1993 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Didier Julien-Laferriere
Keyword(s):  
Home Range ◽  
Seed Dispersal ◽  
French Guiana ◽  
Primary Forest ◽  
Minimum Convex Polygon ◽  
Dispersal Agent ◽  
Radio Transmitters ◽  
Rest Time ◽  
Potos Flavus ◽  
Dispersal Distances

ABSTRACTTwo kinkajous (Potos flavus) were equipped with radio-transmitters and tracked during a 14- and a 7-day period in a primary forest of French Guiana. Both individuals were strictly nocturnal. They moved between food patches (flowering or fruiting trees) duringc.65% of the night, visited food trees duringc.20%, while the remaining time was devoted to rest. Rest time tended to peak in the middle of the night, whereas distances travelled peaked at the beginning and the end of the night. Minimum and maximum home range areas, estimated from minimum area and minimum convex polygon methods respectively, reached 15.7 and 17.6 ha in the female, 26.6 and 39.5 ha in the male. Mean daily activity area amounted to 5.5 ha in the female, 11.3 ha in the male. Distances travelled in a night averaged 1495 m for the female, 2540 m for the male. In contrast to the female, the male used the periphery more intensively than the centre of its home range. Both individuals occupied several roosts located in the canopy, but one far more frequently than the others. The male's roosts were all situated in the periphery of the home range.Kinkajous were observed feeding on flowers or fruits of 15 plant species. Among the 10 species exploited for fruits, at least seven were dispersed. Dispersal distances averaged 200 ± 75 m (13 seed dispersal occurrences for 16 defecations), while seed transit time varied from 45 min to 3 h 35 min.P. flavusappears to be nocturnal, solitary, a generalist fruit and flower-eater and an important seed dispersal agent.

scholarly journals Dispersal distances and migration rates at the arctic treeline in Siberia – a genetic and simulation based study

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefan Kruse ◽  
Alexander Gerdes ◽  
Nadja J. Kath ◽  
Laura S. Epp ◽  
Kathleen R. Stoof-Leichsenring ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Seed Dispersal ◽  
Parentage Analysis ◽  
Dispersal Distance ◽  
Climate Feedback ◽  
The Arctic ◽  
Long Distance ◽  
North Central ◽  
Central Siberia ◽  
Migration Rates ◽  
Dispersal Distances

Abstract. A strong temperature increase in the Arctic is expected to lead to latitudinal treeline shift. This tundra-taiga turnover would cause a positive vegetation-climate feedback due to albedo decrease. However, reliable estimates of tree migration rates are currently lacking due to the complex processes involved in forest establishment, which depend strongly on seed dispersal. We aim to fill this gap using LAVESI, an individual-based and spatially explicit Larix vegetation simulator. LAVESI was designed to simulate plots within homogeneous forests. Here, we improve the implementation of the seed dispersal function via field-based investigations. We inferred the effective seed dispersal distances of a typical open forest stand on the southern Taymyr Peninsula (north-central Siberia) from genetic parentage analysis using eight highly polymorphic nuclear microsatellite loci. The parentage analysis gives effective seed dispersal distances (median ~ 10 m) close to the seed parents. A comparison between simulated and observed effective seed dispersal distances reveals an overestimation of recruits close to the releasing tree and a shorter dispersal distance generally. We thus adapted our model and used it to simulate south-to-north transects: a slow-moving treeline front was revealed. The colonisation of the tundra areas was assisted by occasional long-distance seed dispersal events beyond the treeline area. The treeline (~ 1 tree ha−1) advanced by ~ 1.6 m yr−1, whereas the forest line (~ 100 trees ha−1) advanced by only ~ 0.6 m yr−1. We conclude that the treeline in north-central Siberia currently lags behind the current strong warming and will continue to lag in the near future.

scholarly journals How far might plant-eating dinosaurs have moved seeds?

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
pp. 20200689
Author(s):  
George L. W. Perry
Keyword(s):  
Seed Dispersal ◽  
Body Mass ◽  
Dispersal Distance ◽  
Movement Speed ◽  
Gut Contents ◽  
Allometric Relationship ◽  
Seed Retention ◽  
Dispersal Distances ◽  
Seed Retention Time ◽  
Seed Dispersal Distance

Fossilized gut contents suggest that seeds consumed by dinosaurs may have remained intact in their stomachs, and since seed dispersal distance increases with body-mass in extant vertebrates, dinosaurs may have moved seeds long distances. I simulated seed dispersal by dinosaurs across body-masses from 1 × 10 1 to 8 × 10 4 kg using allometric random walk models, informed by relationships between (i) body-mass and movement speed, and (ii) body-mass and seed retention time. Seed dispersal distances showed a hump-shaped relationship with body-mass, reflecting the allometric relationship between maximum movement speed and body-mass. Across a range of assumptions and parameterizations, the simulations suggest that plant-eating dinosaurs could have dispersed seeds long distances.

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