DOI: 10.5061/dryad.7wm37pvns
title: Behavioural complementarity among frugivorous birds and lizards can promote plant diversity in island ecosystems

description: The behavioural complementarity of fruit-eating animals is thought to
 exert a key role in plant community assembly. However, a mechanistic
 understanding of the causal links between the two processes is still
 lacking. This study assesses if complementarity between dispersers in
 feeding and microhabitat-use behaviour enhances community-scale dispersal
 services, resulting in a more diverse community of seedlings. We used a
 Bayesian approach to connect a comprehensive database of seed dispersal
 effectiveness at a community scale with a transition probability model
 that accounts for behavioural complementarity. Our model system was the
 thermosclerophyllous shrubland of the Canary Islands. There,
 fleshy-fruited plants rely on two types of frugivores: lizards and birds.
 Lizards consumed all plant species and preferentially used open areas;
 whereas birds foraged for small single-seeded fruits and dispersed their
 seeds beneath plants. Through feeding on different sets of plants, they
 generated a rich seed-rain community. By diversifying the microhabitat of
 deposition, more species could find suitable recruitment sites. Distinct
 foraging and microhabitat-use choices led to complementary dispersal
 services. Lizards ensured that all plant species were present in the
 seedling community, while birds promoted a more even distribution of them.
 As a result, diversity in the community of seedlings was enhanced.
 Overall, our work underscores that behavioural complementarity promotes
 diversity in the early-regenerating plant communities. These enhanced
 dispersal services rely on the presence of all functional groups. Thus, in
 communities where frugivores display unique behaviours, preserving a
 diverse community of dispersers should be a conservation target.
description: The excel document contains data used for model parameterization
 (field studies and green house experiments) ##Data to
 estimate abundance of dispersers  Abundance_disperser.
 On monthly basis, individuals per ha of each frugivore type.
 ##Data related to diet choice seed_traps (per
 month) Composition of the seed rain from birds and lizards on monthly
 basis. Numbers correspond to seed counts (in 1 m2).
 fruit_production Counts of number of fruits found in fruit traps
 of 5 m2 established every 25 m along a 500 m transect running across the
 study area.  Fruit traits from the study species.
 Number of seeeds per fruit, radial diameter (mm), carbohydrate content
 (percentage) Fruits per_Bout Estimates of fruits
 consumed per foraging bout for each p-th plant and f-th frugivore
 type ##Data to estimate microhabitat
 preferences Microhabitat. Number of faeces found in
 each tray on montly basis. Trays are classified according to microhabitat
 type (open vs covered). fruit_production (see
 above) Climate  ##Data for
 post-dispersal emergence and survival gut_damage Number
 of seeds dispersed that were damaged after dispersal (on plant species and
 frugivore-type basis). emergence Contains information
 about the seed sowing experiment (Total_sowed, Emerged, Percentage_emerged
 (sowing experiment)). In addition it contains the ratios between number of
 ingested vs control seeds that emerged in the greehouse experiment. The
 percentage of seedlings emerged * ratios results in the emergence rates of
 the different species according to the frugivore-type and microhabitat of
 deposition (Percentage_Lizard, Percentage_bird).
 <br> One_year_survival. Data from plots of 2 m2, where we
 marked newly emerged seedlings and followed their survival one year later.
 Data correspond to counts.<br>