Frugivory and seed predation of fishtail palm (Caryota mitis Lour.) on the remote oceanic island of Narcondam, India

Oceanic islands, due to their evolutionary history and isolation, play a dual role of having high endemicity and being vulnerable to extinctions, with most known extinctions occurring on islands. Plant–animal interactions are particularly important on islands, as island systems generally have low redundancy and are more vulnerable to disruption either via extinction or by invasive species. Here, we examined the fruit removal and seed predation of a keystone palm, Caryota mitis, on Narcondam, a remote oceanic island. The island endemic Narcondam Hornbill (Rhyticeros narcondami) was the sole seed disperser of the palm (90 hours; N = 15 trees), with mean (± SE) visitation rate being 0.23 (± 0.06) individuals per hour and fruit removal rates of 3.5 (± 1.5; range: 0–16) fruits per visit, indicating a lack of redundancy in seed dispersal of the palm on this island. Whereas the invasive rodent, Rattus cf. tiomanicus, was the sole predator of palm seeds (N = 15 individual fruiting palms, 416 tr..., , , # Frugivory and seed predation of fishtail palm (Caryota mitis Lour.) on the remote oceanic island of Narcondam, India

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.4tmpg4fjj](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.4tmpg4fjjGive)

## Description of the data and file structure

This dataset reports the seed fates to the seed plots set up in the study.

The .csv file contains the seed fate of the 7 species examined in the study.

tree_sp: Name of the seven tree species that were part of the study

tree_code: Unique id number for each of the tree under which the seed plots were set up

lat: Latitude of the tree sampled

long: Longitude of the tree sampled

elev: Elevation in metres

start_date:  Start date of the seed monitoring session

end_date: End date of the seed monitoring session

days_monitored: Number of days seed plots were surveyed

plot_code: Code for the plot for each of the treatment type

type: These represent the three treatments: Away_high and Away_low plots 15m away from the focal tree with 10...