The influence of provisioning on animal‐mediated seed dispersal

Abstract

Anthropogenic provisioning of food to wildlife is ubiquitous across the globe. It may be intentional such as in the form of bird feeders or offering of food to animals by tourists, or unintentional when animals use anthropogenic food sources like crops, plantations or garbage dumps. Provisioning has profound effects on wildlife ecology and behaviour, but the consequences of these changes to mutualistic and antagonistic interactions have rarely been investigated. Here we demonstrate how provisioning can affect the role of wildlife as seed dispersers. As provisioning directly influences the amount and quality of resources, it can substantially impact fruit removal by wildlife, seed displacement and the probability of germination at the sites of deposition -more often in ways that are detrimental. In most cases, fruit removal decreases as animals choose to feed more on the abundant and higher-calorie anthropogenic foods. However, for animals whose size and abundance are increased by provisioning, dispersal quantity could be enhanced. Seed dispersal distances are also reduced by provisioning, and seeds are often deposited at sites unsuitable for germination. More studies are required to understand how these broad patterns might vary across different contexts and wildlife species. Provisioning has the potential to greatly modify plant communities through the direct impacts it has on resources and wildlife seed dispersal services.

In Situ Provisioning Wildlife with Food, Water, or Shelter after Bushfires: Using a One Welfare Framework to Guide Responses

“…The impact of wildlife provisioning on the environment is often overlooked in provisioning studies, with experimental outcomes frequently focused on only individuals or target species. However, some evidence suggests that provisioning can be detrimental to ecosystems by altering natural food webs [37], changing ecosystem processes such as seed dispersal [38], and encouraging the proliferation of non-native species [39]. Alternatively, under conservation settings such as following a catastrophic bushfire, provisioning might assist in sustaining natural wildlife populations or reducing habitat damage and protecting valuable natural areas (e.g., by reducing grazing pressure on regenerating areas).…”

Acoustic restoration: Using soundscapes to benchmark and fast‐track recovery of ecological communities

“…The simplified microbial communities that characterise disturbed systems diminish their resilience, increasing sensitivity to additional disturbance events. The idea of using visiting animals to fast‐track restoration has been trialled before (Sengupta et al, 2022), primarily in reforesting agricultural land where the addition of artificial perches to cleared areas facilitates dispersal of large‐seeded plants by visiting birds (Athiê & Dias, 2016; Wunderle, 1997), which can be expanded to smaller‐seeded groups via the related concept of induced seed dispersal (Silva et al, 2020) or scaled up by integrating revegetation of small patches of trees to facilitate colonisation of animal‐dispersed trees (applied nucleation; Zahawi et al, 2013). Although more relevant in terrestrial systems, the potential for wide‐ranging aquatic organisms to seed microbial recovery has been noted by researchers working on both marine reefs (e.g.…”

The important role of animal social status in vertebrate seed dispersal

“…Events that cause an overabundance of a preferred resource (e.g., masting, human subsidies or biological invasions) could, therefore, lead to a cryptic function loss of seed dispersal by subordinates (McConkey & O’Farrill, 2015; Box 2). It is generally appreciated that provisioning of anthropogenic resources can lead to declines in seed dispersal by reducing fruit removal rates by wildlife (Sengupta et al, 2021), but there is limited understanding of how changes in social behaviour due to provisioning may be a mechanism by which seed dispersal is affected by anthropogenic resources. It has been shown that animal social network structure is relaxed near anthropogenic habitats (Belton et al, 2018; Morrow et al, 2019), indicating that a potential mechanism by which anthropogenic resources may reduce seed‐dispersal services is when high‐quality foods are no longer defended by dominant individuals.…”