DOI: 10.5061/dryad.t1g1jwt4c
title: Data from: Seed fate in ant-mediated dispersal: Seed dispersal effectiveness in the Ectatomma ruidum (Formicidae) - Zanthoyxlum ekmanii (Rutaceae) system

description: Plants are often dispersal limited relying on passive or active agents to
 find suitable microhabitats for germination. Seeds of pioneer tree
 species, for example, require light gaps for growth but have short median
 dispersal distances and often do not provide a food reward to encourage
 animal dispersal. Zanthoxylum ekmanii seeds are frequently moved by ants
 but evaluating the effectiveness of ant-mediated seed removal requires
 knowledge of the species moving the seeds, how far they are moved, and the
 deposition site. To assess the effectiveness of ants as seed dispersers of
 Z. ekmanii, we utilized the seed dispersal effectiveness framework. We
 tracked the movement of seeds from caches on the forest floor, revealing
 that foragers of Ectatomma ruidum moved 32.8% of seeds an average first
 distance of 99.8 cm with 68.3% of those seeds taken into a colony. The
 quality of deposition location was assessed using a seedling emergence
 study where freshly germinated seeds were buried at different depths.
 Seedlings were primarily able to emerge from the shallowest depths. Wax
 castings of E. ruidum colonies demonstrated that seeds brought into the
 colony were deposited in chambers that had larvae present and experienced
 more damage than seeds unhandled by ants. Foragers, however, did not have
 a strong enough bite force to rupture Z. ekmanii seeds likely because
 their muscle morphology is not structured to maximize force generation.
 Overall, E. ruidum may help fine tune deposition location, incorporating
 seeds into the topsoil, though few seeds will likely emerge if soil
 bioturbation is low.
description: The data was collected at five sites on Barro Colorado Island
 (BCI) and Parque Soberania near Gamboa in the Republic of Panama. Data on
 seed removal, distance moved, and deposition location of
 <em>Zanthoxylum ekmanii </em>seeds and the ants (primarily
 belonging to <em>Ectatomma ruidum</em>) were collected in the
 2015 and 2016 dry seasons on BCI. These data were collected by observed
 seed caches consisting of 5 seeds placed on the soil surface for 2 hours.
 A total of 25 caches were placed. Data on burial depth from wax casts of
 <em>Ectatomma ruidum</em> colonies was collected in 2015 and
 2016 from Parque Soberania. Some of these colonies were provisioned with
 <em>Z. ekmanii </em>seeds prior to being wax casted. These
 seeds were recollected and compared to seeds that have presumably never
 come into contact with ants to assess the amount of damage casued by ants
 to seeds. Bite force data was collected using modified peizoelectric
 sensor and software on 4 <em>E. ruidum</em> workers from
 colonies found in Parque Soberania. Data from the seedling emergence study
 were collected in the 2018 dry season in an ambient air greenhouse on BCI.
 These data were collected by buring freshly germinated seeds at either 0,
 2, 5, or 7cm in sieved soil and recording whether seedlings were able to
 emerge.
description: To accesss the R project associated with this data deposition
 please see
 https://github.com/sruzi24/Ruzi_and_Suarez_seed_short_term_seed_fate