Loss of animal seed dispersal increases extinction risk in a tropical tree species due to pervasive negative density dependence across life stages.

ABSTRACT: Overhunting in tropical forests reduces populations of vertebrate seed dispersers. If reduced seed dispersal has a negative impact on tree population viability, overhunting could lead to altered forest structure and dynamics, including decreased biodiversity. However, empirical data showing decreased animal-dispersed tree abundance in overhunted forests contradict demographic models which predict minimal sensitivity of tree population growth rate to early life stages. One resolution to this discrepancy is that seed dispersal determines spatial aggregation, which could have demographic consequences for all life stages. We tested the impact of dispersal loss on population viability of a tropical tree species, Miliusa horsfieldii, currently dispersed by an intact community of large mammals in

SUBMITTER: Caughlin TT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4262173 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature