Year: 2019
Type: review
Abstract: Although dispersal is generally viewed as a crucial determinant for the fitness of any organism, our understanding of its role in the persistence and spread of plant populations remains incomplete. Generalizing and predicting dispersal processes are challenging due to context dependence of seed dispersal, environmental heterogeneity and interdependent processes occurring over multiple spatial and temporal scales. Current population models often use simple phenomenological descriptions of dispersal processes, limiting their ability to examine the role of population persistence and spread, especially under global change. To move seed dispersal ecology forward, we need to evaluate the impact of any single seed dispersal event within the full spatial and temporal context of a plant’s life history and environmental variability that ultimately influences a population’s ability to persist and spread. In this perspective, we provide guidance on integrating empirical and theoretical approaches that account for the context dependency of seed dispersal to improve our ability to generalize and predict the consequences of dispersal, and its anthropogenic alteration, across systems. We synthesize suitable theoretical frameworks for this work and discuss concepts, approaches and available data from diverse subdisciplines to help operationalize concepts, highlight recent breakthroughs across research areas and discuss ongoing challenges and open questions. We address knowledge gaps in the movement ecology of seeds and the integration of dispersal and demography that could benefit from such a synthesis. With an interdisciplinary perspective, we will be able to better understand how global change will impact seed dispersal processes, and potential cascading effects on plant population persistence, spread and biodiversity.
Source: AoB Plants
Authors: Noelle G Beckman, Clare E Aslan, Haldre S Rogers, Oleg Kogan, Judith L Bronstein, James M Bullock, Florian Hartig, Janneke HilleRisLambers, Ying Zhou, Damaris Zurell, Jedediah F Brodie, Emilio M Bruna, Robert Stephen Cantrell, Robin R Decker, Edu Efiom, Evan C Fricke, Katherine Gurski, Alan Hastings, Jeremy S Johnson, Bette A Loiselle, Maria N Miriti, Michael G Neubert, Liba Pejchar, John R Poulsen, Gesine Pufal, Onja H Razafindratsima, Manette E Sandor, Katriona Shea, Sebastian Schreiber, Eugene W Schupp, Rebecca S Snell, Christopher Strickland, Jenny Zambrano
Institutions: Utah State University, Northern Arizona University, Iowa State University, California Polytechnic State University, University of Arizona, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, University of Regensburg, University of Washington, Lafayette College, Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, University of Montana, University of Florida, University of Miami, University of California, Davis, Lund University, National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center, Howard University, Santa Fe Institute, The Ohio State University, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Colorado State University, Duke University, University of Freiburg, College of Charleston, Pennsylvania State University, Ohio University, University of Tennessee at Knoxville, University of Maryland, College Park
Language: English
Subfield: Nature and Landscape Conservation
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Life on land
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $1,404
OpenAlex ID: W2968066977