DOI: 10.5061/dryad.f9320
title: Data from: Unravelling seed dispersal through fragmented landscapes: frugivore species operate unevenly as mobile links

description: Seed dispersal constitutes a pivotal process in an increasingly fragmented
 world, promoting population connectivity, colonization and range shifts in
 plants. Unveiling how multiple frugivore species disperse seeds through
 fragmented landscapes, operating as mobile links, has remained elusive
 owing to methodological constraints for monitoring seed dispersal events.
 We combine for the first time DNA barcoding and DNA microsatellites to
 identify, respectively, the frugivore species and the source trees of
 animal-dispersed seeds in forest and matrix of a fragmented landscape. We
 found a high functional complementarity among frugivores in terms of seed
 deposition at different habitats (forest vs. matrix), perches (isolated
 trees vs. electricity pylons) and matrix sectors (close vs. far from the
 forest edge), cross-habitat seed fluxes, dispersal distances, and
 canopy-cover dependency. Seed rain at the landscape-scale, from forest to
 distant matrix sectors, was characterized by turnovers in the contribution
 of frugivores and source-tree habitats: open-habitat frugivores replaced
 forest-dependent frugivores, whereas matrix trees replaced forest trees.
 As a result of such turnovers, the magnitude of seed rain was evenly
 distributed between habitats and landscape sectors. We thus uncover key
 mechanisms behind ‘biodiversity–ecosystem function’ relationships, in this
 case, the relationship between frugivore diversity and landscape-scale
 seed dispersal. Our results reveal the importance of open-habitat
 frugivores, isolated fruiting trees, and anthropogenic perching sites
 (infrastructures) in generating seed dispersal events far from the remnant
 forest, highlighting their potential to drive regeneration dynamics
 through the matrix. This study helps to broaden the ‘mobile link’ concept
 in seed dispersal studies by providing a comprehensive and integrative
 view of the way in which multiple frugivore species disseminate seeds
 through real-world landscapes.
description: barcoding_sequencesDNA-barcoding sequences obtained from the surface of the seeds sampled. A column specifies the length of the resulting sequences.coordinates_UTM30S_genotyped_treesUTM30S coordinates of the genotyped wild olive trees in forest and matrix.fully_identified_dispersal_eventsDataset of the fully characterised seed dispersal events, belonging to seeds for which we identified both the frugivore species responsible of dispersal and the source tree. This dataset also includes the dispersal distance (m) and the canopy cover (%) within a 25-m buffer along each dispersal event.genotypes_seeds_treesDataset with the microsatellite genotypes in 11 loci analyzed in dispersed seeds (endocarps), wild olive trees (leaves), and crop olive trees (leaves).seed_rain_densityData on seed density measured during the fruiting seasons 2013–2014 and 2014–2015 in seed traps, in the base of electricity pylons and along transects. This dataset contains information of the distance from the forest edge of each sampling site (0: forest; 1: 0–50 m; 2: 50–100 m; 3: 100–150 m; 4: 150–200 m; 5: &gt; 200 m). This dataset does not include those seed traps placed beneath fruiting wild olive trees within the forest (n = 5) in order to account for actual dispersal events, that is, involving horizontal movement away from the canopies of source trees.seeds_sampledData on the seeds sampled for barcoding and microsatellite analyses. Codes for columns of disperser and source-tree identification are: 1: yes; 0: no; NA: not applicable. This dataset contains information of the distance from the forest edge of each sampling site (0: forest; 1: 0–50 m; 2: 50–100 m; 3: 100–150 m; 4: 150–200 m; 5: &gt; 200 m).README_Gonzalez-Varo_etal_2017_MolecularEcologyInformation on the content of each data file.