Reid's paradox describes the fact that classical models cannot account for the rapid (10(2)-10(3) m yr-1) spread of trees at the end of the Pleistocene. I use field estimates of seed dispersal with an integrodifference equation and simulation models of population growth to show that dispersal data are compatible with rapid spread. Dispersal estimates lay to rest the possibility that rapid sprea...

Introduction Alliaria petiolata, an herbaceous plant, has invaded woodlands in North America. Its ecology has been thoroughly studied, but an overlooked aspect of its biology is seed dispersal distances and mechanisms. We measured seed dispersal distances in the field and tested if epizoochory is a potential mechanism for long-distance seed dispersal. Methods Dispersal distances were measured...

Seed dispersal by wind is a critical yet poorly understood process in tropical forest trees. How tree size and fecundity affect this process at the population level remains largely unknown because of insufficient replication across adults. We measured seed dispersal by the endangered neotropical timber species big-leaf mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla King, Meliaceae) in the Brazilian Amazon at ...

The astounding diversity of angiosperms, and their prevalence in most presentday terrestrial habitats, has often attracted the attention of evolutionary biologists, and a number of factors have been proposed to explain the success and extraordinary radiation of this group, particularly in relation to gymnosperms (see, e.g., stebbins 1974, 1981; Raven 1977; Regal 1977; Doyle 1978; Mulcahy 1979; ...

Methods to design a sampling strategy should depend on the research question involved when conducting the experiment. The objective of this study is to design a seed trap configuration surrounding a parent plant when the long distance component of the seed dispersal kernel is of interest. In particular, as a population’s invasion speed depends mainly on the tail of the dispersal kernel, the sam...

Seed dispersal has a powerful influence on population dynamics, genetic structuring, evolutionary rates, and community ecology. Yet, patterns of seed dispersal are difficult to measure due to methodological shortcomings in tracking dispersed seeds from sources of interest. Here we introduce a new method to track seed dispersal: stable isotope enrichment. It consists of leaf-feeding plants with ...

Rapid deforestation has fragmented habitat across the landscape of Madagascar. To determine the effect of fragmentation on seed banks and the potential for forest regeneration, we sampled seed viability, density and diversity in 40 plots of 1 m in three habitat types: forest fragments, the near edge of continuous forest, and deforested savanna in a highly fragmented dry deciduous forest landsca...

What happens to seeds once they have reached a surface – here referred to as post-dispersal seed fate (cf. Chambers and MacMahon, 1994) – is becoming an increasingly important question. A large body of literature is available evaluating postdispersal seed fate (reviewed in Hulme, 1998, 2002; Crawley, 2000; Moles and Westoby, 2003; see Hulme and Kollmann, Chapter 2, this volume; Vander Wall and ...

19 The negative correlation between dispersal and establishment appears to be well documented 20 in the plant literature; smaller seeds tend to disperse better but germinate less well, and 21 produce smaller seedlings. However, because dispersal capacity is often quantified using 22 proxies, such as the settling velocity of wind-dispersed seeds, little is known about the exact 23 shape of this ...