DOI: 10.5061/dryad.547d7wmmj
title: Partial recovery of large seed arrival following ecological restoration in fragmented tropical rainforests

description: Forest restoration success depends crucially on the reinitiation of
 ecological processes such as seed arrival that drive natural regeneration.
 We know little about whether, by increasing and diversifying local seed
 sources to alleviate seed limitation, and attracting animal frugivores to
 alleviate dispersal limitation, restoration could shift seed arrival rates
 and species composition in the direction of mature rainforests,
 particularly for large-seeded species in degraded fragments. We tested
 this by examining seed arrival in 189 1 m2 seed fall traps within 63 seed
 trapping stations across sites ecologically restored (through maximum
 diversity mixed-native species planting 13-21 years ago) and those left
 unrestored within degraded rainforest fragments, and in mature “benchmark”
 rainforests, in India’s Western Ghats. We found that overall, large-seeded
 species arrival rates in restored sites was comparable with the benchmark,
 and was higher than unrestored sites. Seeds arriving through dispersal
 (from fruiting trees absent in the overstory) also showed a recovery
 towards benchmark levels, but were dominated by alien species abundant in
 the matrix habitat. Restoration also had no effect on species richness and
 composition of all arriving seeds, with restored sites closely resembling
 unrestored sites and remaining distinct from benchmark sites. Further,
 restoration did not alleviate the effect of fragment isolation on large
 seed arrival rates, which declined with distance from benchmark forests
 similarly in restored and unrestored sites. Our results suggest that
 restoration can increase local availability and dispersal of large seeds,
 and highlights the value of diverse native species restoration plantings
 within degraded forests and promoting their use instead of alien tree
 species in the surrounding matrix. However, our findings also show that
 recovery of natural regeneration can remain slow or uncertain in restored
 forest fragments, and underscore the need for sustained monitoring and
 evaluation of restoration over multiple decades.
description: # Partial recovery of large seed arrival following ecological restoration
 in fragmented tropical rainforests Dataset DOI:
 [10.5061/dryad.547d7wmmj](10.5061/dryad.547d7wmmj) ## Description of the
 data and file structure Data from: Partial recovery of large seed arrival
 following ecological restoration in fragmented tropical rainforests Data
 sets included: * all_tree_seed_dat.csv: data of all-seed arrival *
 disp_tree_seed_dat.csv: data of dispersed-seed arrival *
 location_attributes_final.csv: data associated with trap locations *
 species_traits_final.csv: data of species traits ### Files and variables
 #### File: MetaData.txt **Description:** Description of the datasets ####
 File: Krishnan_et_al_R_script.R **Description:** R scripts used for
 analysing the data and making plots #### File: species_traits_final.csv
 **Description:** Species traits ##### Variables * Final_species_name:
 Species name * seed_length_cat: Seed size category-- Large &gt; 1 cm and
 Small &lt;= 1 cm * Functional_group: Species classification as Native and
 Alien * Disp_mode: Dispersal mode as Biotic or Abiotic * Seeds_per_fruit:
 Average number of seeds in a fruit * seed_length: Seed length in cm * NA
 values indicate an absence of data collection #### File:
 location_attributes_final.csv **Description:**  ##### Variables *
 Treatment: Treatment * Trap_ID: Trapping station ID * dist_PA: Distance
 from benchmark forest in km * Year_restored: Years since restoration *
 Location: Fragment or Benchmark site name * 'Benchmark' sites
 have NA values for dist_PA and Year_restored as they do not apply to these
 sites. #### File: disp_tree_seed_dat.csv **Description:**  ##### Variables
 * Treatment: Treatment * Trap_ID: Trapping station ID * Trap_code: Seed
 trap ID * Final_species_name: Seed species name * Overstory_fruiting:
 Whether the seed species has a conspecific tree in the overstory that is
 fruiting (Y) or not (N) * Seeds_no_flesh: Whether the seed had fruit pulp
 (Y) or not (N) * sampling_time: Number of days the seed fall trap was
 sampled for * NA in Final_species_name indicates the lack of seed arrival
 of any species. #### File: all_tree_seed_dat.csv **Description:**  #####
 Variables * Treatment: Treatment * Trap_ID: Trapping station ID *
 Trap_code: Seed trap ID * Final_species_name: Seed species name *
 Overstory_fruiting: Whether the seed species has a conspecific tree in the
 overstory that is fruiting (Y) or not (N) * Seeds_no_flesh: Whether the
 seed had fruit pulp (Y) or not (N) * Whole_fruits: The number of intact
 fruits that arrived (With pulp) * sampling_time: Number of days the seed
 fall trap was sampled for * NA in Final_species_name (and correspondingly
 in Overstory_fruiting) indicates the lack of seed arrival of any species.