Data from: Species introductions shift seed dispersal potential more than extinctions across 120 island plant–frugivore communities
Data files
Sep 23, 2025 version files 853.05 KB
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Fauna_PNAS.csv
394.41 KB
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Flora_PNAS.csv
381.68 KB
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README.md
5.40 KB
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README.pdf
71.10 KB
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Tortoises.txt
455 B
Abstract
These databases were created by the Frugivory on Islands Globally (FIG) consortium, a group of more than 30 (local) island experts, through over a decade of work. We would very much appreciate being involved in future work using this data (contact: islandextinctions@gmail.com). These databases, spanning 120 oceanic islands within 22 archipelagos worldwide, consist of insular frugivorous birds, mammals, and reptiles (native, extinct, and introduced; 3,050 occurrences of 613 unique species), fleshy-fruited plants (4,026 occurrences of 1,784 unique species), and their morphological and behavioural traits related to seed dispersal. For frugivores, traits include seed handling, habitat use, diet, gape size, body mass, animal class, percentage fruit in diet; for plants, seed length and width. R scripts are archived at Zenodo (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16986851), and accessible via GitHub (https://github.com/JHHeinen/120-Island-frugivore-communities/).
Dataset DOI: 10.5061/dryad.v6wwpzh8f
Description of the data and file structure
These databases were created by the Frugivory on Islands Globally (FIG) consortium, a group of more than 30 (local) island experts, through over a decade of work. We would very much appreciate being involved in future work using this data (contact: islandextinctions@gmail.com).
These databases, spanning 120 oceanic islands within 22 archipelagos worldwide, consist of insular frugivorous birds, mammals, and reptiles (native, extinct, and introduced; 3,050 occurrences of 613 unique species), fleshy-fruited plants (4,026 occurrences of 1,784 unique species), and their morphological and behavioural traits related to seed dispersal. For frugivores, traits include seed handling, habitat use, diet, gape size, body mass, animal class, percentage fruit in diet; for plants, seed length and width.
R scripts are archived at Zenodo (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.16986851), and accessible via GitHub (https://github.com/JHHeinen/120-Island-frugivore-communities/).
Files and variables
File: Flora_PNAS.csv
Description: Plants occurring on islands and their traits.
Variables
- Species: Scientific species names.
- Family: Scientific family names.
- Archipelago: Archipelago name where species occurs (contains special characters, use UTF-8).
- Island: Island name where species occurs (contains special characters, use UTF-8).
- Island.archipelago: Combined island and archipelago names as unique identifier (contains special characters, use UTF-8).
- Seed_Length: Average length of seed in mm.
- Seed_Width: Average width of seed in mm.
- SL_Imputed: Whether or not seed length has been imputed (TRUE=imputed, FALSE=not imputed).
- SW_Imputed: Whether or not seed width has been imputed (TRUE=imputed, FALSE=not imputed).
File: Fauna_PNAS.csv
Description: Animals occurring on islands and their traits.
Variables
- Species: Scientific species names.
- Family: Scientific family names.
- Class: Taxonomic class (Aves, Mammalia, Reptilia).
- Archipelago: Archipelago name where species occurs (contains special characters, use UTF-8).
- Island: Island name where species occurs (contains special characters, use UTF-8).
- Island.archipelago: Combined island and archipelago names as unique identifier (contains special characters, use UTF-8).
- AlienNativeExtinct: Whether the species is considered Alien (non-native), Native, or Extinct on the island. (incl. local extinctions).
- Eradicated: Whether the species is currently eradicated from the island. NA= data not available.
- Fruit.access: Habitat use. Categorical. VO: volant (it can fly), TE: terrestrial (spends most time on ground), AR: arboreal (spends most time in trees).
- Gape.width: Size in mm. Birds: bill width between commisural closure points of bill, Mammals: upper palatal width between last molars, Reptiles: width of beak at commisural closure points.
- Seed.handling: Categorical. SD: seed disperser that generally does not destroy seeds, SP: seed predator that generally destroys seeds, DP: disperser/predator cannot be assigned to either of the other categories because it varies too much.
- Body.mass: In gram. Average across sexes when possible.
- Fruit.in.diet: Percentage of fruit in diet.
- Diet: Broad diet categories. Categorical. CA: Carnivorous, at least 50% of food items are animal-based (incl. insects), HE: Herbivorous, at least 50% of food items are plant based (incl. fruit and nectar and leaves), OM: Omnivorous, none of the food categories are more than 50%.
- Bat.carry.limit: Maximum weight of fruit that can be carried by the bat species in claws or mouth. NA= data not available.
- Latitude: Latitudinal coordinate of the island.
- Longitude: Longitudinal coordinate of the island.
File: Tortoises.txt
Description: Tortoise measurements.
Variables
- CCL: Aldabra Giant tortoise (Aldabrachelys gigantea) Curved Carapace Length in cm.
- gapewidth: Aldabra Giant tortoise (Aldabrachelys gigantea) width of mouth between commisural closing points in cm. Same individual as CCL.
File: README.pdf
Description: PDF version of the README file.
Other important information:
CARE Principles for Indigenous Data Governance
Collective benefit
Authority to control
Responsibility
Ethics
The names of 27 animals and plants that are used by the indigenous Ngāti Kuri people fall under the CARE principles (see PNAS data policy) and are therefore pseudonymized (e.g. Species 1).
A table connecting the pseudonymized names to the corresponding scientific species names can be requested from the Ngāti Kuri Trust Board.
Species names were not used in the study and only provided for additional context. All raw data used for the study are part of the publicly available dataset.
Contact information for the Ngāti Kuri Trust Board:
Sheridan Waitai (sheridan@ngatikuri.iwi.nz)
Marara van Buuren (marara@ngatikuri.iwi.nz)