Uncovering biodiversity deficits: experimental evidence for dispersal limitation of woody species in Mediterranean forest patches

Deforestation and habitat disturbance are major drivers of local species extinctions within remnant forest patches. In plants, seed dispersal plays a key role in recolonising patches following disturbance; however, habitat fragmentation may hinder seed arrival to suitable but unoccupied patches, resulting in dispersal limitation and prolonged biodiversity deficits. We assessed dispersal limitation in Mediterranean forest patches by experimentally introducing plant species from the regional pool. To do so, we sowed 61,000 seeds from ten woody species and compared their establishment between occupied and unoccupied patches, assessing whether absences were driven by habitat unsuitability or dispersal limitation. We included five dry- and five fleshy-fruited species to test whether dispersal mechanisms influenced dispersal limitation. Additionally, we evaluated major biotic (vertebrate granivores and herbivores) and abiotic (soil properties and moisture) factors that could act as ecological..., , # Data from: Uncovering biodiversity deficits: experimental evidence for dispersal limitation of woody species in Mediterranean forest patches Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.t1g1jwtg3](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.t1g1jwtg3) ## Description of the data and file structure Datasets\ **1.** **\"sowing_experiment.csv\"**\ **2. \"planting_experiment.csv\"**\ **3. \"soil_physicochemical.csv\"**\ **4. \"soil_moisture_vwc_values.csv\"**\ **5. \"vegetation_cover.csv\"** **Note:** In all datasets, values marked as \"NA\" indicate that the data is not available or applicable, or that a measurement was not taken, depending on the context of each variable. ### Files and variables ### File: sowing_experiment.csv **Description:**Â Data on the sown seeds from the seed sowing experiment, used to evaluate the habitat suitability of occupied and unoccupied forest patches. Dataset contains 61,000 rows, each one containing the information of a sown seed (n = 61,000 sown seeds). The dataset also includes information...,森林砍伐与栖息地干扰是残留森林斑块内本地物种灭绝的主要驱动因素。对于植物而言，种子扩散在干扰后斑块的重新定植过程中发挥关键作用；然而，栖息地破碎化可能阻碍种子抵达适宜但未被占据的斑块，进而引发扩散限制与长期的生物多样性亏损。 本研究通过实验引入区域物种库中的植物物种，评估地中海森林斑块内的扩散限制情况。为此，我们播种了10种木本植物共计61000粒种子，对比已占据斑块与未占据斑块间的幼苗定植情况，以此判断物种缺失是由栖息地不适宜性还是扩散限制导致。我们选取5种干果植物与5种肉果植物，以验证扩散机制是否会对扩散限制产生影响。此外，我们还评估了可能发挥生态作用的主要生物因子（脊椎动物食籽者与草食动物）与非生物因子（土壤属性与土壤湿度）……，数据来源：《揭示生物多样性亏损：地中海森林斑块内木本植物扩散限制的实验证据》 数据集DOI：[10.5061/dryad.t1g1jwtg3](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.t1g1jwtg3) 数据与文件结构说明 数据集： 1. "sowing_experiment.csv" 2. "planting_experiment.csv" 3. "soil_physicochemical.csv" 4. "soil_moisture_vwc_values.csv" 5. "vegetation_cover.csv" **注：** 在所有数据集中，标记为"NA"的值表示对应数据不可用、不适用，或因变量上下文不同而未进行测量。 文件与变量说明 **文件：sowing_experiment.csv** **说明：** 本文件包含种子播种实验的相关数据，用于评估已占据与未占据森林斑块的栖息地适宜性。数据集共包含61000行，每一行对应一粒播种种子的信息（共计61000粒播种种子）。该数据集同时包含……等信息