Loss of frugivore seed dispersal services under climate change

Mokany, Karel and Prasad, Soumya and Westcott, David A (2014) Loss of frugivore seed dispersal services under climate change. In: NATURE COMMUNICATIONS, 5 .

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Abstract

The capacity of species to track shifting climates into the future will strongly influence outcomes for biodiversity under a rapidly changing climate. However, we know remarkably little about the dispersal abilities of most species and how these may be influenced by climate change. Here we show that climate change is projected to substantially reduce the seed dispersal services provided by frugivorous vertebrates in rainforests across the Australian Wet Tropics. Our model projections show reductions in both median and long-distance seed dispersal, which may markedly reduce the capacity of many rainforest plant species to track shifts in suitable habitat under climate change. However, our analyses suggest that active management to maintain the abundances of a small set of important frugivores under climate change could markedly reduce the projected loss of seed dispersal services and facilitate shifting distributions of rainforest plant species.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Publication:	NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
Publisher:	NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
Additional Information:	Copyright for this article belongs to the NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP, MACMILLAN BUILDING, 4 CRINAN ST, LONDON N1 9XW, ENGLAND
Department/Centre:	Division of Biological Sciences > Centre for Ecological Sciences
Date Deposited:	14 Jul 2014 08:53
Last Modified:	14 Jul 2014 08:53
URI:	http://eprints.iisc.ac.in/id/eprint/49443

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