10.5061/DRYAD.4TMPG4F9G
Schlautmann, Jan
0000-0002-9720-133X
Philipps University of Marburg
Rehling, Finn
Philipps University of Marburg
Albrecht, Jörg
Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre
Jaroszewicz, Bogdan
University of Warsaw
Schabo, Dana G.
Philipps University of Marburg
Farwig, Nina
Philipps University of Marburg
Data from: Observing frugivores or collecting scats: A method comparison
to construct quantitative seed dispersal networks
Dryad
dataset
2021
FOS: Biological sciences
plant-frugivore interactions
Super-generalist
Seed deposition
Seed dispersal quality
Post-dispersal stage
Sampling method comparison
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft
https://ror.org/018mejw64
FA925/10-1, 10-2; BE 6041/1-1, SCHA 2085/1-2
2021-05-06T00:00:00Z
2021-05-06T00:00:00Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1111/oik.08175
10481 bytes
2
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Mutualistic interactions form the basis for many ecological processes and
are often analyzed within the framework of ecological networks. These
interactions can be sampled with a range of methods and first analyses of
pollination networks sampled with different methods showed differences in
common network metrics. However, it is yet unknown if metrics of seed
dispersal networks are similarly affected by the sampling method and if
different methods detect a complementary set of frugivores. This is
necessary to better understand the (dis-)advantages of each method and to
identify the role of each frugivore for the seed dispersal process. Here,
we compare seed removal networks based on the observation of 2,189
frugivore visits on ten focal plant species with seed deposition networks
constructed by DNA barcoding of plant seeds in 3,094 frugivore scats. We
were interested in whether both methods identify the same disperser
species and if species-level network metrics of plant species were
correlated between network types. Both methods identified the same avian
super-generalist frugivores, which accounted for the highest number of
dispersed seeds. However, only with DNA barcoding, we detected elusive but
frequent mammalian seed dispersers. The overall networks created by both
methods were congruent but the plant species’ degree, their interaction
frequency, and their specialization index (d’) differed. Our study
suggests that DNA barcoding of defecated and regurgitated seeds can be
used to construct quantitative seed deposition networks similar to those
constructed by focal observations. To improve the overall completeness of
seed dispersal networks it might be useful to combine both methods to
detect interactions by both birds and mammals. Most importantly, the DNA
barcoding method provides information on the post-dispersal stage and thus
on the qualitative contribution of each frugivore for the plant community
thereby linking species interactions to regeneration dynamics of
fleshy-fruited plant species.
Short summary: Along transects, we collected scats of frugivores which
contained seeds of the fleshy-fruited plant community in Białowieża
Forest, Poland. We used DNA barcoding to identify the frugivore and were
thereby able to obtain quantitative seed deposition data. Further, we used
focal observations to catch feeding interactions between fleshy-fruited
plant and their frugivore partners. Additionally, we counted the number of
ripe fruits along the transects and determined the crop size of observed
plant individuals.
This data package contains data from Schlautmann, Jan; Rehling, Finn;
Albrecht, Jörg; Jaroszewicz, Bogdan; Schabo, Dana G. & Farwig,
Nina (2021) Observing frugivores or collecting scats: A method comparison
to construct quantitative seed dispersal networks, Oikos. Please refer to
the readMe.txt file for details on the dataset.