10.5061/DRYAD.612JM643N
Green, Andy J.
0000-0002-1268-4951
Estación Biológica de Doñana
Baltzinger, Christophe
0000-0003-2980-6238
National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment
Lovas-Kiss, Ádám
Danube Research Institute
Plant dispersal syndromes are unreliable as predictors of zoochory and
long-distance dispersal by ungulates and waterbirds
Dryad
dataset
2021
FOS: Biological sciences
ungulates
waterbirds
Plant seed traits
endozoochory
epizoochory
Agencia Estatal de Investigación
https://ror.org/003x0zc53
CGL2016-76067-P
Hungarian Academy of Sciences
https://ror.org/02ks8qq67
ÚNKP‐20‐5‐DE‐225
Ministry of Technology, Innovation & Citizens' Services
https://ror.org/04b3wz043
NKFIH OTKA FK‐127939
2021-06-22T00:00:00Z
2021-06-22T00:00:00Z
en
65598 bytes
6
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Plant dispersal syndromes are allocated based on diaspore morphology and
used to predict mechanisms of dispersal. Many authors assume that only
angiosperms with endozoochory, epizoochory or anemochory syndromes have a
long-distance dispersal (LDD) mechanism. Too much faith is often placed in
classical syndromes to explain historical dispersal events and to predict
future ones. The “endozoochory syndrome” is actually a “frugivory
syndrome” and has often diverted attention from endozoochory by
non-frugivores (e.g. waterbirds and large herbivores) that disperse a
broad range of angiosperms, for which they likely provide the maximum
dispersal distances. Neither the endozoochory nor the epizoochory
syndromes provide helpful predictions of which plants non-frugivores
disperse, or by which mechanism. We combined data from Albert et al.
(2015a), Soons et al. (2016) and Julve (1998) to show that only 4% of
European plant species dispersed by ungulate endozoochory belong to the
corresponding syndrome, compared to 36% for ungulate epizoochory and 8%
for endozoochory by migratory ducks. In contrast, the proportions of these
species that are assigned to an “unassisted syndrome” are 37%, 31% and
28%, respectively. Since allocated syndromes do not adequately account for
zoochory, empirical studies often fail to find the expected relationship
between syndromes and LDD events such as those underlying the colonization
of islands or latitudinal migration. We need full incorporation of
existing zoochory data into dispersal databases, and more empirical
research into the relationship between plant traits and the frequency and
effectiveness of different dispersal mechanisms (paying attention to
unexpected vectors). Acknowledging the broad role of non-frugivores in
facilitating LDD is crucial to improve predictions of the consequences of
global change, such as how plant distributions respond to climate change,
and how alien plants spread. Networks of dispersal interactions between
these vertebrates and plants are a vital but understudied part of the Web
of Life. The datasets we present here illustrate these limitations of
syndromes, and include data from Brochet et al. (2010) regarding the
syndromes of plants dispersed by Eurasian Teal via epizoochory or
endozoochory.
This dataset is a compilation of previously published and freely available
datasets on seed dispersal and plant traits from the following sources:
Albert, A. et al. 2015. Seed dispersal by ungulates as an ecological
filter: a trait-based meta-analysis. - Oikos 124: 1109-1120. Julve, P.
1998. Baseflor. Index botanique, écologique et chorologique de la flore de
France. - accession date 2020/07/01
(http://perso.wanadoo.fr/philippe.julve/catminat.htm). Soons, M. B. et al.
2016. Seed dispersal by dabbling ducks: an overlooked dispersal pathway
for a broad spectrum of plant species. - Journal of Ecology 104: 443-455.
Brochet, A.-L. et al. 2010. Plant dispersal by teal (Anas crecca) in the
Camargue: duck guts are more important than their feet. - Freshwater
Biology 55: 1262-1273.
There are missing values when a plant species that appears in the seed
dispersal datasets of Soons et al., Brochet et al. or Albert et al. is not
listed in the trait database Baseflor. See the ReadMe sheet within the
Excel file for all other information