U.S. Department of Agriculture: Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
Date of this Version
2022
Citation
Draper JP, Young JK, Schupp EW, Beckman NG and Atwood TB (2022) Frugivory and Seed Dispersal by Carnivorans. Front. Ecol. Evol. 10:864864.
doi: 10.3389/fevo.2022.864864
Abstract
Seed dispersal is critical to the ecological performance of sexually reproducing plant species and the communities that they form. The Mammalian order Carnivora provide valuable and effective seed dispersal services but tend to be overlooked in much of the seed dispersal literature. Here we review the literature on the role of Carnivorans in seed dispersal, with a literature search in the Scopus reference database. Overall, we found that Carnivorans are prolific seed dispersers. Carnivorans’ diverse and plastic diets allow them to consume large volumes of over a hundred families of fruit and disperse large quantities of seeds across landscapes. Gut passage by these taxa generally has a neutral effect on seed viability. While the overall effect of Carnivorans on seed dispersal quality is complex, Carnivorans likely increase long-distance dispersal services that may aid the ability of some plant species to persist in the face of climate change.
Included in
Natural Resources and Conservation Commons, Natural Resources Management and Policy Commons, Other Environmental Sciences Commons, Other Veterinary Medicine Commons, Population Biology Commons, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology Commons, Veterinary Infectious Diseases Commons, Veterinary Microbiology and Immunobiology Commons, Veterinary Preventive Medicine, Epidemiology, and Public Health Commons, Zoology Commons
Comments
Copyright © 2022 Draper, Young, Schupp, Beckman and Atwood. This is an openaccess article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY).