Climate and microhabitat shape the prevalence of endozoochory in the seed rain of tropical montane forests

Endozoochory, the dispersal of seeds by animal ingestion, is the most dominant mode of seed dispersal in tropical forests and is a key process shaping current and future forest dynamics. However, it remains largely unknown how endozoochory is associated with environmental conditions at regional and local scales. Here, we investigated the effects of elevation, climate and microhabitat conditions on the proportion of endozoochorous plant species in the seed rain of the tropical Andes of southern Ecuador. Over one year, we measured seed rain in 162 seed traps on nine 1-ha forest plots located at 1000 m, 2000 m, and 3000 m a.s.l. We recorded climatic conditions (mean annual temperature and rainfall) in each plot and microhabitat conditions (leaf area index and soil moisture) adjacent to each seed trap. In total, we recorded 331,838 seeds belonging to 323 morphospecies. Overall, the proportion of endozoochorous species in the seed rain decreased with elevation. Relative biomass of endozoocho..., Seed rain collection in 162 traps (each trap, 60 x 60 cm) located along an elevational gradient (from 1000 to 3000 m a.s.l.) in forest plots of 1 ha, in southern Ecuador.
Climate and microhabitat conditions recorded at plot and trap level along an elevational gradient (from 1000 to 3000 m a.s.l.) in forest plots of 1 ha, in southern Ecuador., README
File with general introduction to all the data files used in this publication.
 
Seed_rain_data_montane_forests_southern_Ecuador.csv
Data on seed rain collected over one year (2019) along an elevational gradient of 2000 m in southern Ecuador. 
 
Climate_microhabitat_montane_forests_southern_Ecuador.csv
Data on seed rain collected over one year (2019) along an elevational gradient of 2000 m in southern Ecuador.