Review
Ecology
Haldre S. Rogers, Isabel Donoso, Anna Traveset, Evan C. Fricke
Summary: Seed dispersal is crucial for the persistence and spread of plant populations, as most plant species rely on animals to disperse their seeds. Loss of dispersers can lead to changes in plant populations, community patterns, and ecosystem functioning.
ANNUAL REVIEW OF ECOLOGY, EVOLUTION, AND SYSTEMATICS, VOL 52, 2021
(2021)
Article
Biology
Therese Lamperty, Berry J. Brosi
Summary: This study used simulations to investigate the consequences of the extinction of endangered frugivores on seed dispersal in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. The results showed that the extinction of endangered frugivores led to a rapid and disproportionate loss of tree species with dispersal partners. The study highlights the importance of protecting endangered frugivores for maintaining tropical forest seed dispersal and the maintenance of tropical plant diversity.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2022)
Review
Plant Sciences
Jonathan O. O. Hernandez, Muhammad Naeem, Wajid Zaman
Summary: The ability of plants to find tolerable climatic ranges through seed dispersal varies greatly depending on their life-history traits and habitat characteristics. A systematic review on seed dispersal mechanisms was conducted to understand plant seed movements in changing environments. The review found that the majority of studies were conducted in Spain, Brazil, and the USA, while there was limited data from megadiverse countries and Africa. The effects of land use changes, habitat degradation/disturbances, climate, and extreme weather conditions had the most significant impact on seed dispersal mechanisms and agents.
Article
Plant Sciences
Jinlei Zhu, Natasa Lukic, Jorn Pagel, Frank M. Schurr
Summary: Plant population spread is influenced by density-dependent factors such as fecundity and dispersal. The effects of density-dependence on spread characteristics, including spread rate, edge depth, and population continuity, are not well understood. A modelling framework was developed and parameterized using experimental data to analyze these effects.
JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Georg Gratzer, Mario B. Pesendorfer, Frederik Sachser, Laura Wachtveitl, Ursula Nopp-Mayr, Jerzy Szwagrzyk, Charles D. Canham
Summary: The study reveals that mast-seeding affects spatial variation in seed rain, influencing the spatial distribution of seedlings and saplings of different tree species. The annual variation in seed production fades with time, leading to decoupling of spatial processes across different life history stages of trees. The interaction between temporal and spatial variation in seed production plays a significant role in driving stand-level spatial dynamics.
Review
Biodiversity Conservation
Laura Godo, Orsolya Valko, Sandor Borza, Balazs Deak
Summary: Zoochory, the dispersion of seeds by animals, plays a crucial role in ecological and evolutionary processes. The decline of large seed-dispersing herbivores threatens this mechanism, increasing the importance of small rodents and lagomorphs in seed dispersal. These animals disperse seeds through various mechanisms such as epi- and endozoochory. While their actions generally occur at a small scale, they contribute to local population persistence and can occasionally facilitate long-distance dispersal events. Additionally, rodents and lagomorphs support plant establishment and provide safe sites for seeds. However, studies on seed dispersal by these animals have geographical and scope biases, with a focus on specific countries and habitat types.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND CONSERVATION
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Jinlei Zhu, Karolina Hruskova, Hana Pankova, Zuzana Munzbergova
Summary: The research conducted demographic analyses on the critically endangered plant species Minuartia smejkalii in the Czech Republic, emphasizing the importance of seed dispersal in population spread. It suggests that increasing seed dispersal ability could significantly improve conservation efforts for endangered plant species.
ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Binod Borah, Noelle G. Beckman
Summary: Frugivore movement plays a critical role in animal-mediated seed dispersal, with drivers including physiology, motion capacities, navigation capabilities, and interactions with other biota influencing the resulting seed removal and deposition patterns. Understanding these factors and utilizing advancements in animal movement research can provide insights into the effectiveness of seed dispersal and the potential impacts of increased human activities, emphasizing the importance of collaboration between animal movement and plant ecology researchers.
Article
Plant Sciences
Yuri Souza, Nacho Villar, Valesca Zipparro, Sergio Nazareth, Mauro Galetti
Summary: This study investigates the impact of large mammalian herbivores on the dominance, diversity, and coexistence of major plant growth forms in tropical rainforests. The results show that defaunation leads to a decrease in growth form diversity, an increase in the abundance of palms and trees, and changes in the relationships between growth forms. Large herbivores promote diversity among growth forms, preventing the dominance of trees and palms, while maintaining species diversity within growth forms.
JOURNAL OF ECOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Tommaso Valdesolo, Silvia Del Vecchio, Gabriella Buffa
Summary: Seed dispersal plays a crucial role in species distribution and assembly. This study examined the link between seed dispersal patterns and coexisting species in a plant community. The findings suggest that seasonal differentiation in seed dispersal may have a greater impact on species assembly than dispersal vectors.
Article
Ecology
Lilian P. Sales, W. Daniel Kissling, Mauro Galetti, Babak Naimi, Mathias M. Pires
Summary: This study forecasted the impact of climate change and frugivory interactions on the spatial distribution and seed size evolution of a Neotropical palm species, showing that future climate change and deforestation may reduce the palm's suitable distribution. However, majority of the remaining suitable distribution is inaccessible to the palm without active seed dispersal by frugivores, and changes in frugivore communities may lead to evolution towards smaller seeds for the plant.
GLOBAL ECOLOGY AND BIOGEOGRAPHY
(2021)
Article
Agriculture, Multidisciplinary
Sissi Lozada-Gobilard, Florian Jeltsch, Jinlei Zhu
Summary: This study investigated the effects of surrounding vegetation height on seed dispersal and connectivity of wind-dispersed plant populations. The results show a vegetation-based trade-off between mean dispersal distance and long-distance dispersal probability, which has implications for future land-use management and climate change analyses.
AGRICULTURE ECOSYSTEMS & ENVIRONMENT
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Jan Schlautmann, Finn Rehling, Joerg Albrecht, Bogdan Jaroszewicz, Dana G. Schabo, Nina Farwig
Summary: This study compares seed removal networks based on frugivore visits observation and seed deposition networks constructed by DNA barcoding of frugivore scats. Both methods identified the same avian super-generalist frugivores, but only DNA barcoding detected elusive mammalian seed dispersers. The networks created by both methods were congruent, but there were differences in plant species' degree, interaction frequency, and specialization index.
Article
Ecology
Dillon T. Fogarty, Robert B. Peterson, Dirac Twidwell
Summary: This study develops a recruitment curve to describe the scatter of woody plant recruitment around seed sources and examines how this structures spatial patterns of encroachment.
Article
Ecology
Lisieux Fuzessy, Gisela Sobral, Daiane Carreira, Debora Cristina Rother, Gedimar Barbosa, Mariana Landis, Mauro Galetti, Tad Dallas, Vinicius Cardoso Claudio, Laurence Culot, Pedro Jordano
Summary: In the Brazilian Atlantic forest, the most important frugivorous vertebrates in the continuous forest have disappeared from the small patch, while specific functional traits and levels of frugivory play a significant role in shaping network structure. In the small patch, small generalist birds and the only remaining primate, along with lipid-rich fruits, are central to maintaining community structure.
Article
Plant Sciences
Jenny Zambrano, Noelle G. Beckman, Philippe Marchand, Jill Thompson, Maria Uriarte, Jess K. Zimmerman, Maria N. Umana, Nathan G. Swenson
JOURNAL OF VEGETATION SCIENCE
(2020)
Article
Ecology
Simon Maccracken Stump, James H. Marden, Noelle G. Beckman, Scott A. Mangan, Liza S. Comita
AMERICAN NATURALIST
(2020)
Article
Anthropology
Jacob Freeman, Erick Robinson, Noelle G. Beckman, Darcy Bird, Jacopo A. Baggio, John M. Anderies
JOURNAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SCIENCE
(2020)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Jenny Zambrano, Norbert J. Cordeiro, Carol Garzon-Lopez, Lauren Yeager, Claire Fortunel, Henry J. Ndangalasi, Noelle G. Beckman
Article
Plant Sciences
Sebastian J. Schreiber, Noelle G. Beckman
Article
Ecology
Binod Borah, Noelle G. Beckman
Summary: Frugivore movement plays a critical role in animal-mediated seed dispersal, with drivers including physiology, motion capacities, navigation capabilities, and interactions with other biota influencing the resulting seed removal and deposition patterns. Understanding these factors and utilizing advancements in animal movement research can provide insights into the effectiveness of seed dispersal and the potential impacts of increased human activities, emphasizing the importance of collaboration between animal movement and plant ecology researchers.
Article
Ecology
Susan R. Whitehead, Gerald F. Schneider, Ray Dybzinski, Annika S. Nelson, Mariana Gelambi, Elsa Jos, Noelle G. Beckman
Summary: The study suggests that plants produce diverse secondary metabolites due to their beneficial interactions with other organisms. By focusing on fruits as hubs of interactions, the research demonstrates that fruits can harbor higher levels of phytochemical diversity compared to leaves. Integrating chemical ecology with fruit-frugivore interaction research can provide new insight into plant trait evolution.
Article
Ecology
John P. Draper, Trisha B. Atwood, Noelle G. Beckman, Karin M. Kettenring, Julie K. Young
Summary: Coyotes are effective seed dispersers, capable of providing regular long-distance dispersal services and opportunities for secondary seed dispersal, which could aid in climate migration or serve to replace extirpated dispersal mutualists.
Correction
Anthropology
Jacob Freeman, John M. Anderies, Noelle G. Beckman, Erick Robinson, Jacopo A. Baggio, Darcy Bird, Christopher Nicholson, Judson Byrd Finley, Jose M. Capriles, Adolfo F. Gil, David Byers, Eugenia Gayo, Claudio Latorre
Article
Anthropology
Jacob Freeman, John M. Anderies, Noelle G. Beckman, Erick Robinson, Jacopo A. Baggio, Darcy Bird, Christopher Nicholson, Judson Byrd Finley, Jose M. Capriles, Adolfo F. Gil, David Byers, Eugenia Gayo, Claudio Latorre
Summary: The stability of human populations is influenced by the variability in food production. Agricultural societies that relied on extensive landscape engineering and increased political-economic complexity experienced the most stability and least severe population declines in response to environmental perturbations.
Review
Ecology
John P. Draper, Julie K. Young, Eugene W. Schupp, Noelle G. Beckman, Trisha B. Atwood
Summary: Seed dispersal is crucial for the ecological performance of plant species and communities, and carnivorous mammals play an important role in this process. They have diverse diets and can consume fruits from various plant families, dispersing a large quantity of seeds across landscapes. The passage through their digestive system generally does not affect seed viability, and they may assist some plant species in long-distance dispersal, contributing to their ability to persist in the face of climate change.
FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Noelle G. G. Beckman, Ray Dybzinski, David Tilman
Summary: Mounting evidence suggests that plant-soil feedbacks (PSF) may determine plant community structure. However, short-term PSF predictions do not match the outcomes of long-term field experiments involving competing plants.
Article
Plant Sciences
Gerald F. Schneider, Cole A. Carlson, Elsa M. Jos, Noelle G. Beckman
Summary: The specialized metabolites of plants play a crucial role in various plant-biotic interactions. This study focuses on the comparison of specialized metabolite diversity in leaves and fruit of two species of Psychotria shrubs. The results show that leaves interact with a greater number of consumer species compared to fruit, while fruit-centric interactions involve both antagonistic and mutualistic consumers. The composition of specialized metabolites varies independently between leaves and fruit, and is stronger between organs than between species.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF BOTANY
(2023)
Article
Ecology
Binod Borah, Noelle G. G. Beckman
Summary: Alterations of landscape due to agriculture affect animal movement patterns. We analyzed bird movement in a changing agricultural landscape in Kenya, and found that movement in fragments was restrictive while movement in the matrix was expansive. Species traits influenced the movement components in response to fragments and the surrounding matrix. Habitat specialists showed stronger response to boundaries and had shorter step lengths and smaller displacements. Habitat generalists and frugivores had larger step lengths, utilizing the matrix for resources and movement.
