Robledo-Arnuncio JJ, Klein EK, Muller-Landau HC, Santamaría L. Space, time and complexity in plant dispersal ecology.
MOVEMENT ECOLOGY 2014;
2:16. [PMID:
25709828 PMCID:
PMC4337469 DOI:
10.1186/s40462-014-0016-3]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2014] [Accepted: 07/24/2014] [Indexed: 05/09/2023]
Abstract
Dispersal of pollen and seeds are essential functions of plant species, with far-reaching demographic, ecological and evolutionary consequences. Interest in plant dispersal has increased with concerns about the persistence of populations and species under global change. We argue here that advances in plant dispersal ecology research will be determined by our ability to surmount challenges of spatiotemporal scales and heterogeneities and ecosystem complexity. Based on this framework, we propose a selected set of research questions, for which we suggest some specific objectives and methodological approaches. Reviewed topics include multiple vector contributions to plant dispersal, landscape-dependent dispersal patterns, long-distance dispersal events, spatiotemporal variation in dispersal, and the consequences of dispersal for plant communities, populations under climate change, and anthropogenic landscapes.
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