Employing plant functional groups to advance seed dispersal ecology and conservation

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2019-02-17Author
Aslan, Clare E.
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Beckman, Noelle G.
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Rogers, Haldre S.
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Bronstein, Judith L.
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Zurell, Damaris
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Hartig, Florian
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Shea, Katriona
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Pejchar, Liba
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Neubert, Michael G.
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Poulsen, John R.
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Hille Ris Lambers, Janneke
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Miriti, Maria
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Loiselle, Bette
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Effiom, Edu
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Zambrano, Jenny
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Schupp, Eugene W.
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Pufal, Gesine
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Johnson, Jeremy
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Bullock, James M.
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Brodie, Jedediah
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Bruna, Emilio
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Cantrell, Robert Stephen
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Decker, Robin
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Fricke, Evan
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Gurski, Katherine
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Hastings, Alan
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Kogan, Oleg
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Razafindratsima, Onja
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Sandor, Manette
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Schreiber, Sebastian
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Snell, Rebecca
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Strickland, Christopher
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Zhou, Ying
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https://hdl.handle.net/1912/23950As published
https://doi.org/10.1093/aobpla/plz006DOI
10.1093/aobpla/plz006Keyword
dependency; directed dispersal; dispersal vectors; generalization; mutualism; seed dispersal effectivenessAbstract
Seed dispersal enables plants to reach hospitable germination sites and escape natural enemies. Understanding when and how much seed dispersal matters to plant fitness is critical for understanding plant population and community dynamics. At the same time, the complexity of factors that determine if a seed will be successfully dispersed and subsequently develop into a reproductive plant is daunting. Quantifying all factors that may influence seed dispersal effectiveness for any potential seed-vector relationship would require an unrealistically large amount of time, materials and financial resources. On the other hand, being able to make dispersal predictions is critical for predicting whether single species and entire ecosystems will be resilient to global change. Building on current frameworks, we here posit that seed dispersal ecology should adopt plant functional groups as analytical units to reduce this complexity to manageable levels. Functional groups can be used to distinguish, for their constituent species, whether it matters (i) if seeds are dispersed, (ii) into what context they are dispersed and (iii) what vectors disperse them. To avoid overgeneralization, we propose that the utility of these functional groups may be assessed by generating predictions based on the groups and then testing those predictions against species-specific data. We suggest that data collection and analysis can then be guided by robust functional group definitions. Generalizing across similar species in this way could help us to better understand the population and community dynamics of plants and tackle the complexity of seed dispersal as well as its disruption.
Description
© The Author(s), 2019. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Aslan, C., Beckman, N. G., Rogers, H. S., Bronstein, J., Zurell, D., Hartig, F., Shea, K., Pejchar, L., Neubert, M., Poulsen, J., HilleRisLambers, J., Miriti, M., Loiselle, B., Effiom, E., Zambrano, J., Schupp, G., Pufal, G., Johnson, J., Bullock, J. M., Brodie, J., Bruna, E., Cantrell, R. S., Decker, R., Fricke, E., Gurski, K., Hastings, A., Kogan, O., Razafindratsima, O., Sandor, M., Schreiber, S., Snell, R., Strickland, C., & Zhou, Y. Employing plant functional groups to advance seed dispersal ecology and conservation. AoB Plants, 11(2), (2019):plz006, doi:10.1093/aobpla/plz006.
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Suggested Citation
Aslan, C., Beckman, N. G., Rogers, H. S., Bronstein, J., Zurell, D., Hartig, F., Shea, K., Pejchar, L., Neubert, M., Poulsen, J., HilleRisLambers, J., Miriti, M., Loiselle, B., Effiom, E., Zambrano, J., Schupp, G., Pufal, G., Johnson, J., Bullock, J. M., Brodie, J., Bruna, E., Cantrell, R. S., Decker, R., Fricke, E., Gurski, K., Hastings, A., Kogan, O., Razafindratsima, O., Sandor, M., Schreiber, S., Snell, R., Strickland, C., & Zhou, Y. (2019). Employing plant functional groups to advance seed dispersal ecology and conservation. AoB Plants, 11(2), plz006The following license files are associated with this item:
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