Data from: How do birds and ants contribute to the recruitment of a tropical?

In most tropical ecosystems, birds play a crucial role as primary
dispersers (phase 1) by removing seeds from the plant crown. Following
primary dispersal, ground-dwelling animals, notably ants, often disperse
seeds secondarily (phase 2). However, the relative contributions of each
phase to seed dispersal effectiveness until plant establishment remains
unclear. We combined observational and manipulative experiments to
quantify the contributions of birds and ants to seed dispersal
effectiveness of the ornithochoric tree Xylopia sericea in the Brazilian
Atlantic Rainforest. Birds dispersed 17.2% of diaspores, with a dispersal
distance (6.6 m ± 6.7 m) twenty times greater than that of ants (0.3 m ±
0.5 m). Notably, birds often dispersed seeds beyond the parental canopy,
where seedling survival is higher. Ants were quantitatively more important
to seed dispersal, with relative diaspore removal 221.3% higher than
birds. Despite the limited dispersal-distance by ants, proximity to ant
nests increased seedling survival. Phase 1 led to the establishment of
16.26 seedlings per 100 diaspores produced, and phase 2 increased the
number of seedlings established by 28.6% (N = 20.91). Ants enhanced seed
recruitment and improved seedling survival both away and near the parental
plant, likely due to ant nests providing favorable microsites for
establishment. Conversely, plants distant from ant nests performed better
when away from the parental plant, underscoring the importance of birds in
seed dispersal. Birds promote long-distance dispersal and ants
redistribute diaspores to microsites that increases establishment, so the
dispersal of X. sericea is highly dependent on both dispersers.