Evidence of a European seed dispersal crisis

Seed dispersal is crucial for ecosystem persistence, especially in fragmented landscapes, such as those common in Europe. Ongoing defaunation might compromise effective seed dispersal, but the conservation status of pairwise interactions remains unknown. With a literature review, we reconstructed th...

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Published inScience (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 386; no. 6718; pp. 206 - 211
Main Authors Mendes, Sara Beatriz, Olesen, Jens Mogens, Memmott, Jane, Costa, José Miguel, Timóteo, Sérgio, Dengucho, Ana Laura, Craveiro, Leonardo, Heleno, Ruben
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States The American Association for the Advancement of Science 11.10.2024
Subjects
Animal species
Animals
Conservation of Natural Resources
Conservation status
Dispersal
Ecosystem
Environmental changes
Europe
Extinction, Biological
Habitat loss
Plant layout
Plant species
Plants
Population decline
Seed Dispersal
Species
Wildlife conservation
Europe
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Summary:Seed dispersal is crucial for ecosystem persistence, especially in fragmented landscapes, such as those common in Europe. Ongoing defaunation might compromise effective seed dispersal, but the conservation status of pairwise interactions remains unknown. With a literature review, we reconstructed the first European-wide seed dispersal network and evaluated the conservation status of interactions by assessing each interacting partner's IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) conservation status and population trends. We found that a third of the disperser species and interactions face potential extinction and that 30% of the plant species have most of their dispersers threatened or declining. Our study reveals a developing seed dispersal crisis in Europe and highlights large knowledge gaps regarding the dispersers and conservation status of zoochorous plants, urging further scrutiny and action to conserve the seed dispersal service.
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ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.ado1464