Williams_NatComm2021_seed_predation_data.csv
Data used in Williams, Ong, Brodie, & Luskin (2021) Fungi and insects compensate for lost vertebrate seed predation in an experimentally defaunated tropical forest. Nature Communications.
We conducted a nested exclosure experiment in Sabah, Malaysian Borneo. We established 10 replicate experimental blocks, spaced 75 m apart along a transect. Within each experimental block, we established six treatments per species. For treatment 1 (control), seeds were placed outside a large vertebrate exclosure, accessible to all seed predators. For treatments 2-6, seeds were placed inside the exclosure, excluding large vertebrate seed predators. For treatments 3-6, seeds were protected by small, closed-top wire mesh rodent exclosures. For treatments 4 and 6, seeds were sprayed with insecticides. For treatments 5 and 6, seeds were sprayed with fungicide. Thus, treatment 4 was only treated with insecticide, treatment 5 was only treated with fungicide, and treatment 6 was treated with both insecticide and fungicide. Both insecticides and fungicide were applied twice per week, and we sprayed an equivalent volume of water on other treatments to reduce bias associated with repeatedly visiting sites.
In each treatment in each block, we placed 10 seeds of each of our five tree species within a 30 cm diameter circle. We monitored seeds for 11 weeks, at which point all seeds were either established or assumed to be dead. Over the monitoring period, we assessed how many seeds died before they could germinate, how many germinated but died before they could establish, and how many successfully established. Seeds germinated when the radicle emerged and were considered to have established when the cotyledons unfurled. For seeds that died, we attributed mortality to either vertebrate predation or non-vertebrate mortality. Mortality was attributed to vertebrates either based on chewed seeds and tooth marks, or if seeds disappeared. From these data, we determined seed fate at two stages: germination (stage 1) and seedling establishment (stage 2).
