Plants dispersed by a non‐frugivorous migrant change throughout the annual cycle

Urgyán, Renáta; Lukács, Balázs András; Fekete, Réka; V., Attila Molnár; Nagy, András; Vincze, Orsolya; Green, Andy J.; Lovas‐Kiss, Ádám

doi:10.1111/geb.13608

Cited by 11 publications

(24 citation statements)

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“…Secondly, fleshy fruits typically are taken by birds from the mother plant and therefore are only available during a limited period of time (González‐Varo et al, 2021). By contrast, waterbird endozoochory is not necessarily coupled with propagule production, because propagules can be ingested from sediments long after they were produced (Brochet et al, 2010; Urgyán et al, 2023). Thirdly, body size plays a more important role for frugivores than for waterbirds, as only species with a large gape can disperse plants with the largest fruits, whereas body size is not correlated with seed size in waterbirds and other non‐frugivores (Almeida et al, 2022; Chen & Moles, 2015).…”

Section: How Do Waterbirds Differ From Other Dispersal Vectors?mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, seed traits favouring persistent seed banks (e.g., hard, impermeable seed coat and round shape; Grime et al, 2007) also favour survival after gut passage. This has major consequences for the ability of plants to undergo LDD in response to climate change, which generally requires dispersal during spring migration (Urgyán et al, 2023). Spring dispersal generally requires seeds to remain viable for several months after their production, and so is more likely for plants that form persistent seed banks or that retain seeds on stems for many months (Urgyán et al, 2023).…”

Section: Interaction Between Zoochory and Dormancymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Dispersal of aquatic and terrestrial organisms by waterbirds: A review of current knowledge and future priorities

et al. 2023

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We review progress in our understanding of the importance of waterbirds as dispersal vectors of other organisms, and identify priorities for further research. Waterbirds are excellent for long‐distance dispersal (LDD), whereas other vectors such as fish and mammals disperse similar propagules, but over shorter distances. Empirical studies of internal and external transport by waterbirds have shown that the former mechanism generally is more important. Internal transport is widely recognised for aquatic plants and aquatic invertebrates with resting eggs, but also is important for other organisms (e.g., terrestrial flowering plants not dispersed by frugivores, bryophytes, tardigrades, fish eggs). Waterbird vectors also are important in terrestrial habitats, and provide connectivity across terrestrial–aquatic boundaries. There are important differences in the roles of different waterbird species, especially those using different habitats along the aquatic–terrestrial gradient. Early attempts to predict zoochory based on propagule morphology have been found wanting, and more research is needed into how the traits of vectors and vectored organisms (including life history, dormancy and growth traits) explain dispersal interactions. Experimental studies have focused on the potential of propagules to survive internal or external transport, and research into factors determining the establishment success of propagules after dispersal is lacking. Recent spatially explicit models of seed dispersal by waterbirds should be expanded to include invertebrate dispersal, and to compare multiple bird species in the same landscape. Network approaches have been applied to plant–waterbird dispersal interactions, and these are needed for invertebrates. Genetic studies support effective LDD of plants and invertebrates along waterbird flyways, but there remains a lack of examples at a local scale. Next Generation Sequencing and genomics should be applied to waterbird‐mediated dispersal across the landscape. More studies of biogeography, community ecology, or population genetics should integrate waterbird movements at the design stage. Zoochory research has paid little attention to the dispersal of non‐pathogenic microbes (both eukaryotic and prokaryotic). Nevertheless, there is evidence that dispersal via avian guts can be central to the connectivity of aquatic microbial metacommunities. More work on microbial dispersal by waterbirds should explore its implications for biogeochemistry, and the interchange with gut flora of other aquatic organisms. In the Anthropocene, the role of migratory waterbirds in LDD of plants and other organisms is particularly important, for example in compensating for loss of large migratory mammals and fish, allowing native species to adjust their distributions under global warming, and spreading alien species along flyways after their initial introductions by human vectors. Recent technological advances have opened exciting opportunities that should be fully exploited to further our understanding of dispersal by waterbirds.

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Section: How Do Waterbirds Differ From Other Dispersal Vectors?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Interaction Between Zoochory and Dormancymentioning

confidence: 99%

Dispersal of aquatic and terrestrial organisms by waterbirds: A review of current knowledge and future priorities

et al. 2023

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“…Similar to previous studies (Brochet et al, 2010;Lovas-Kiss et al, 2015;Soons et al, 2008), most seeds were recovered within 8 hr of ingestion. Considering that mallards typically move several kilometres per day and even longer during migrations (Bartel et al, 2018;Kleyheeg et al, 2019;Urgyán et al, 2023), long-distance dispersal might be common and important for all studied plant species. Mallards also make shorter daily movements between wetlands (Bartel et al, 2018;Kleyheeg et al, 2017), which might assist alien species to become fully established after their introduction to an area (Rouget et al, 2016).…”

Section: Time-to-germination and Retention Timementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Wetlands can harbour many highly invasive plant species (Zedler & Kercher, 2004), which can be transported by a diversity of waterbirds including gulls (Lovas-Kiss et al, 2018;Martín-Vélez, van Leeuwen et al, 2021), cormorants (van Leeuwen et al, 2017), herons (Navarro-Ramos et al, 2021), geese (Hattermann et al, 2019), shorebirds (Lovas-Kiss et al, 2019) and especially dabbling ducks (Soons et al, 2016;Urgyán et al, 2023;van Leeuwen et al, 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Traits for transport: Alien wetland plants gain an advantage during endozoochorous seed dispersal by waterfowl

et al. 2023

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The expansion of alien plant species is of global concern, yet our understanding of their dispersal mechanisms is limited. Here we address the potential of alien plant seeds to disperse via ingestion, transport and egestion in waterfowl (endozoochory). Based on their general rapid expansions, we expected alien plant species to have several advantages for endozoochory compared to native plant species. We hypothesised that seeds of alien species would have higher passage rate, longer gut retention times, higher germinability after gut passage and shorter time‐to‐germination after egestion by waterfowl. In order to test our hypotheses, we compared the endozoochorous dispersal ability of six pairs of congeneric alien and native wetland plant species in a feeding experiment with mallards (Anas platyrhynchos). We focused on differences in seed survival, gut retention time, germinability and time‐to‐germination. In the analyses we corrected for seed shape and volume as these seed traits are known to have important effects. With gut passage, alien species had higher passage rates and germinated slower, whereas native species had shorter retention times and greater germinability. Controlling for seed traits did not alter these conclusions, but seed traits affected all aspects of the endozoochory process. This suggests that alien species may have particular traits correlated with a higher endozoochory potential. Among control seeds, alien seeds germinated faster and their germinability was higher than natives. Seed traits explained differences in germinability and time‐to‐germination in control seeds. Seeds of alien plant species have traits that correlate with successful endozoochory. This may provide alien species with a competitive advantage over native plant species by ensuring higher endozoochory rates in new environments, potentially enabling their rapid expansions. Our study underlines the important role of seed traits in the endozoochory potential of alien and native plant species, notably through their influence on retention time and germination.

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“…Given that dispersal syndromes fail to explain what seeds are ingested and egested by waterbirds, as demonstrated by faecal sampling [ 14 ], a key question is how plant traits determine how many seeds survive gut passage, what their retention time is (a predictor of dispersal distance), and what their germination response is after egestion. Experiments feeding seeds to birds in captivity can address such questions, and there have been several studies with ducks and geese (Anatidae) [ 15 , 16 , 17 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seed Size, Not Dispersal Syndrome, Determines Potential for Spread of Ricefield Weeds by Gulls

Peralta‐Sánchez

Ansotegui

Hortas

et al. 2023

Plants

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Recent field data suggest that migratory gulls disperse many rice field weeds by gut passage (endozoochory), most of which are dry fruited and widely assumed to have no long-distance dispersal mechanisms, except via human activity. We investigated this mechanism with a feeding experiment, in which seeds of five common rice field weeds (in order of increasing seed size: Juncus bufonius, Cyperus difformis, Polypogon monspeliensis, Amaranthus retroflexus, and the fleshy-fruited Solanum nigrum) were fed to seven individuals of lesser black-backed gulls Larus fuscus held in captivity. We quantified seed survival after collecting faeces at intervals for 33 h after ingestion, then extracting intact seeds and running germination tests, which were also conducted for control seeds. All five species showed high seed survival after gut passage, of >70%. Gut retention times averaged 2–4 h, but maxima exceeded 23 h for all species. Germinability after gut passage was 16–54%, and gut passage accelerated germination in J. bufonius and S. nigrum, but slowed it down in the other species. All species had lower germinability after gut passage compared to control seeds (likely due to stratification prior to the experiment), but the loss of germinability was higher in smaller seeds. There was no evidence that the different dispersal syndromes assigned to the five species (endozoochory, epizoochory or barochory) had any influence on our results. In contrast, mean gut retention time was strongly and positively related to seed size, likely because small seeds pass more quickly from the gizzard into the intestines. Non-classical endozoochory of dry-fruited seeds by waterbirds is a major but overlooked mechanism for potential long-distance dispersal, and more research into this process is likely essential for effective weed management.

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Plants dispersed by a non‐frugivorous migrant change throughout the annual cycle

Cited by 11 publications

References 71 publications

Dispersal of aquatic and terrestrial organisms by waterbirds: A review of current knowledge and future priorities

Dispersal of aquatic and terrestrial organisms by waterbirds: A review of current knowledge and future priorities

Traits for transport: Alien wetland plants gain an advantage during endozoochorous seed dispersal by waterfowl

Seed Size, Not Dispersal Syndrome, Determines Potential for Spread of Ricefield Weeds by Gulls

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