Increased importance of terrestrial vertebrate seed dispersal in tropical logged forests

Description:

A large seed dispersal experiement combining seed tracking and camera trapping at ten forest sites along a wide gradient of historical logging disturbance with AGB ranging between 4.7 and 614.0 Mg ha-1, all part of the established SAFE mammal survey network. Each experiment was run for a consecutive five days using experimental seeds with different hardness (fleshy vs hard) and size (large vs small). Each seed was tracked with a spool.

Project: This dataset was collected as part of the following SAFE research project: Resilience of Tropical Forest Ecosystem Processes to the Interactive Effects of El Nino and Forest Disturbance

Funding: These data were collected as part of research funded by:

• Natural Environment Research Council (Directed grant, NE/P00363X/1, https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FP00363X%2F1)

This dataset is released under the CC-BY 4.0 licence, requiring that you cite the dataset in any outputs, but has the additional condition that you acknowledge the contribution of these funders in any outputs.

XML metadata: GEMINI compliant metadata for this dataset is available here

Files: This consists of 1 file: template_seed_experiment_LanQieJan9_v2.xlsx

template_seed_experiment_LanQieJan9_v2.xlsx

This file contains dataset metadata and 2 data tables:

1. Seed fate (described in worksheet Seed fate)

   Description: seed fate and removal distance of 12000 experimental seeds of different treatments at all sites

   Number of fields: 14

   Number of data rows: 12000

   Fields:

   • seed.id: Seed ID (Field type: id)
   • Grid: Experimental site ID, with the same Grid identifier used in the core SAFE project small mammal trapping work -- see SAFE dataset 256 "CORE SAFE PROJECT SMALL MAMMAL TRAPPING DATA" (Field type: id)
   • Point: experimental points, selected from the camera trap points in SAFE gazetteer (Field type: location)
   • Day: The day of the seed outcome. Each experimental point was set up on Day 1 and checked on Day 2-6. This numeric variable is used for temporal analysis. For treating Day as a random effect, an additional "date" label can be created by pasting Grid and Day. (Field type: numeric)
   • type: Experiment seed type. OP = oil palm fruit, PK1 = single pumpkin seed, PK10 = pumpkin seed cluster of 10, PK20 = pumpkin seed cluster of 20, PT = pistachio nut. For analysis, these were classified as fleshy (OP) vs hard (other seeds), and large (> 10 g; OP, PK10, PK20) vs small (< 10 g; PT, PK1). (Field type: categorical)
   • trmt: Experiment treatment. Control = seeds accessible by all animals, Cage = exclosure cage treatment with 10x10cm entrances where large vertebrates were excluded (Field type: categorical)
   • Distance: Seed removal distance (Field type: numeric)
   • Bearing: Compass bearing of the removed seed from experimental point (Field type: numeric)
   • Location: Location of removed seed. Free text can be grouped into categories for analysis. (Field type: comments)
   • fate: Seed fate. Untouched = intact and not moved. Uneaten = removed but uneaten (dispersed). Eaten = eaten or partially eaten. Unknown = seed dragged into burrows, nests or up trees with seed fate unknown, presumed eaten in analsysis to be conservative about seed dispersal (Field type: categorical)
   • Day.3: Fate of dispersed seeds on subsequent days, Day.3 - Day.6, where applicable, e.g. a seed dispersed on Day 4 would only be monitored on Day 5 and Day 6. Also, not all dispersed seeds could be practically monitored. (Field type: categorical)
   • Day.4: Fate of dispersed seeds on subsequent days, Day.3 - Day.6, where applicable, e.g. a seed dispersed on Day 4 would only be monitored on Day 5 and Day 6. Also, not all dispersed seeds could be practically monitored. (Field type: categorical)
   • Day.5: Fate of dispersed seeds on subsequent days, Day.3 - Day.6, where applicable, e.g. a seed dispersed on Day 4 would only be monitored on Day 5 and Day 6. Also, not all dispersed seeds could be practically monitored. (Field type: categorical)
   • Day.6: Fate of dispersed seeds on subsequent days, Day.3 - Day.6, where applicable, e.g. a seed dispersed on Day 4 would only be monitored on Day 5 and Day 6. Also, not all dispersed seeds could be practically monitored. (Field type: categorical)

2. Camera trap records (described in worksheet Camera trap records)

   Description: For each visit to seed experiment by animals recorded by camera traps, we recorded the functional group (large vertebrate or small vertebrate) and seed activity (eating or moving)

   Number of fields: 12

   Number of data rows: 2594

   Fields:

   • Grid: Experimental site ID, with the same Grid identifier used in the core SAFE project small mammal trapping work -- see SAFE dataset 256 "CORE SAFE PROJECT SMALL MAMMAL TRAPPING DATA" (Field type: id)
   • Point: experimental points, selected from the camera trap points in SAFE gazetteer (Field type: location)
   • Day: The day of the camera trap record. Each experimental point was set up on Day 1 and checked on Day 2-6. This numeric variable is used for temporal analysis. For treating Day as a random effect, an additional "date" label can be created by pasting Grid and Day. (Field type: numeric)
   • trmt: Experiment treatment. Control = seeds accessible by all animals, Cage = exclosure cage treatment with 10x10cm entrances where large vertebrates were excluded (Field type: categorical)
   • func.group: functional group of the seed visitor (Field type: categorical)
   • animal.comment: animal species if possible to identify on photos, with some level of uncertainty (Field type: taxa)
   • visit.number: visit number of the apparent repeated visits by the same animal, with some level of uncertainty (Field type: numeric)
   • PIT.tag: the PIT tag number of tagged animals entering cage, detected by the antenna and recorded by the data logger (Field type: id)
   • estimated.body.size: body size estimate from photos, in mm, with some level of uncertainty (Field type: comments)
   • activity: observed interaction with seeds, with details in the next column. For analysis, "investigate" was not considered an active interaction. (Field type: categorical)
   • activity.comment: detailed comments on the activity (Field type: comments)
   • seed.type: the seed type(s) interacted with, if possible to determine, with some level of uncertainty (Field type: categorical)

Date range: 2017-03-01 to 2017-10-31

Latitudinal extent: 4.6881 to 4.7519

Longitudinal extent: 116.9633 to 117.5934

Taxonomic coverage:
All taxon names are validated against the GBIF backbone taxonomy. If a dataset uses a synonym, the accepted usage is shown followed by the dataset usage in brackets. Taxa that cannot be validated, including new species and other unknown taxa, morphospecies, functional groups and taxonomic levels not used in the GBIF backbone are shown in square brackets.