Year: 2019
Type: review
Abstract: When climatic or environmental conditions change, plant populations must either adapt to these new conditions, or track their niche via seed dispersal. Adaptation of plants to different abiotic environments has mostly been discussed with respect to physiological and demographic parameters that allow local persistence. However, rapid modifications in response to changing environmental conditions can also affect seed dispersal, both via plant traits and via their dispersal agents. Studying such changes empirically is challenging, due to the high variability in dispersal success, resulting from environmental heterogeneity, and substantial phenotypic variability of dispersal-related traits of seeds and their dispersers. The exact mechanisms that drive rapid changes are often not well understood, but the ecological implications of these processes are essential determinants of dispersal success, and deserve more attention from ecologists, especially in the context of adaptation to global change. We outline the evidence for rapid changes in seed dispersal traits by discussing variability due to plasticity or genetics broadly, and describe the specific traits and biological systems in which variability in dispersal is being studied, before discussing some of the potential underlying mechanisms. We then address future research needs and propose a simulation model that incorporates phenotypic plasticity in seed dispersal. We close with a call to action and encourage ecologists and biologist to embrace the challenge of better understanding rapid changes in seed dispersal and their consequences for the reaction of plant populations to global change.
Source: AoB Plants
Institutions: US Forest Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Northern Arizona University, University of Miami, University of Regensburg, University of California, Davis, Iowa State University, Utah State University, Pennsylvania State University, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, University of Freiburg
Language: English
Subfield: Nature and Landscape Conservation
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,404
Awards: Seed Dispersal Workshop Proposal; Annapolis, MD - Spring, 2016, G15215604, G2590051499, G271957706, Models for Trait-Mediated Dispersal in Ecology, G4627024066, SCODA - Scaling from individual interactions to community dynamics in avian assemblages, G503214354, G5674346707, National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center, G7518274405, G7889539977, G8427378513, G963972408
OpenAlex ID: W2933596216