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).