Vertebrate seed dispersers maintain the composition of tropical forest seedbanks

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dc.citation.journalTitleAoB PLANTSen_US
dc.citation.volumeNumber7en_US
dc.contributor.authorWandrag, E.M.en_US
dc.contributor.authorDunham, Amy E.en_US
dc.contributor.authorMiller, R.H.en_US
dc.contributor.authorRogers, H.S.en_US
dc.date.accessioned2016-06-23T16:02:12Zen_US
dc.date.available2016-06-23T16:02:12Zen_US
dc.date.issued2015en_US
dc.description.abstractThe accumulation of seeds in the soil (the seedbank) can set the template for the early regeneration of habitats following disturbance. Seed dispersal is an important factor determining the pattern of seed rain, which affects the interactions those seeds experience. For this reason, seed dispersal should play an important role in structuring forest seedbanks, yet we know little about how that happens. Using the functional extirpation of frugivorous vertebrates from the island of Guam, together with two nearby islands (Saipan and Rota) that each support relatively intact disperser assemblages, we aimed to identify the role of vertebrate dispersers in structuring forest seedbanks. We sampled the seedbank on Guam where dispersers are absent, and compared this to the seedbank on Saipan and Rota where they are present. Almost twice as many species found in the seedbank on Guam, when compared to Saipan and Rota, had a conspecific adult within 2 m. This indicates a strong role of vertebrate dispersal in determining the identity of seeds in the seedbank. In addition, on Guam a greater proportion of samples contained no seeds and overall species richness was lower than on Saipan. Differences in seed abundance and richness between Guam and Rota were less clear, as seedbanks on Rota also contained fewer species than Saipan, possibly due to increased post-dispersal seed predation. Our findings suggest that vertebrate seed dispersers can have a strong influence on the species composition of seedbanks. Regardless of post-dispersal processes, without dispersal, seedbanks no longer serve to increase the species pool of recruits during regeneration.en_US
dc.identifier.citationWandrag, E.M., Dunham, Amy E., Miller, R.H., et al.. "Vertebrate seed dispersers maintain the composition of tropical forest seedbanks." <i>AoB PLANTS,</i> 7, (2015) Oxford University Press: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/aobpla/plv130.en_US
dc.identifier.doihttp://dx.doi.org/10.1093/aobpla/plv130en_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1911/90555en_US
dc.language.isoengen_US
dc.publisherOxford University Pressen_US
dc.rightsThis is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.en_US
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/en_US
dc.subject.keywordbird lossen_US
dc.subject.keywordcommunity ecologyen_US
dc.subject.keywordisland ecologyen_US
dc.subject.keywordmutualismsen_US
dc.subject.keywordplant recruitmenten_US
dc.subject.keywordtropical forest ecologyen_US
dc.titleVertebrate seed dispersers maintain the composition of tropical forest seedbanksen_US
dc.typeJournal articleen_US
dc.type.dcmiTexten_US
dc.type.publicationpublisher versionen_US
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