Data from: The effects of human-altered habitat spatial pattern on frugivory and seed dispersal: a global meta-analysis

Seed dispersal by frugivorous animals is important for plant mobility,
regeneration, and persistence. Human-caused landscape change is thought to
disrupt seed dispersal, but evidence is scarce. We performed a
comprehensive meta-analysis on the effects of habitat spatial pattern on
frugivory and seed dispersal. We found 233 effects from 71 studies. At a
patch or local scale, altered habitat spatial pattern was measured as
declining patch size, increasing patch isolation, or habitat edge (vs.
interior). At a landscape scale it was measured as declining amount of
habitat, increasing mean patch isolation, increasing number of patches, or
increasing habitat edge in the landscape. We found overall negative
effects of altered habitat spatial pattern on: (i) the quantity of
frugivory or seed dispersal, (ii) the number of species involved in a
plant-frugivore interaction, and (iii) seed dispersal distance. Moderator
variable analysis was only possible for the first of these. It revealed
negative responses of the quantity of frugivory or seed dispersal to
habitat loss at both the local scale (declining patch size), and the
landscape scale (declining habitat amount), but little evidence for a
response to habitat edge at either scale. In addition, altered habitat
spatial pattern reduced the quantity of frugivory or seed dispersal more
strongly in temperate than tropical areas. Finally, the few-recorded
effects of landscape-scale fragmentation per se (increasing patch density
or edge density) on the quantity of frugivory or seed dispersal were mixed
and weak. Our meta-analysis reinforces the notion that habitat loss is a
major threat to frugivory and seed dispersal by animals, and reveals an
insufficiency of studies of the effects of habitat fragmentation per se.
Thus, based on the current literature, we conclude that maintaining and
increasing habitat amount is vital for maintaining seed dispersal by
frugivorous animals.