Data from: The disruption of seed dispersal networks: Disentangling the effects of habitat loss and fragmentation
Data files
Mar 02, 2026 version files 32.80 KB
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Cazetta_Guimaraes.zip
30.36 KB
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README.md
2.44 KB
Abstract
Seed dispersal by frugivores is a central process linking plant reproduction, animal foraging, population persistence, and ecosystem resilience. Currently, the spatial template sustaining these interactions is rapidly reconfigured by habitat loss and fragmentation promoted by human activity. While habitat loss consistently reduces the diversity and abundance of frugivores and animal-dispersed plants, the effects of fragmentation per se are still not clear. These changes in landscape structure not only alter the quantity and quality of seed dispersal but also restructure plant–frugivore networks. Here, we explore the potential consequences of habitat loss and fragmentation to plant-frugivore interactions. By integrating natural history, empirical evidence, and metacommunity theory, we also outline a conceptual model to disentangle the contributions of habitat loss and fragmentation per se in shaping frugivory, seed dispersal, and network structure. We argue that advancing this understanding is critical for predicting indirect effects of landscape change and for guiding conservation and restoration strategies that maintain biodiversity and ecological function. We hypothesize that habitat loss will also prevail as the main driver of the disruption of plant-frugivore networks and their functional consequences.
Dataset DOI: 10.5061/dryad.5tb2rbpjm
Overview
The file Cazetta_Guimaraes.zip contains the simulation outcomes used to generate Figure 2B in the paper “The disruption of seed dispersal networks: disentangling the effects of habitat loss and fragmentation”, accepted for publication in Oikos. The simulations quantify a single landscape descriptor: the mean distance to the nearest habitat fragment (average nearest-neighbor distance) under varying levels of habitat amount and number of fragments. For each combination of habitat amount and number of fragments, 100 independent simulations were performed. The model simulates spatially explicit landscapes with controlled habitat amount and fragmentation levels, from which distances among habitat fragments were calculated for each simulation replicate. These results were used to illustrate how habitat loss and habitat fragmentation, per se, independently influence patch isolation in fragmented landscapes. The landscape configuration model code is available at: https://github.com/miudolab/fragmentation
Description of the data and file structure
Files
- File: Cazetta_Guimaraes.zip: a zip folder with the 18 simulation outputs in csv format.
- Files: CSV files. All files are labeled in the same way: resultados_fragmentacao_XA_HB_FC_final.csv, in which X, H, and F are parameters of the model (see below), and A, B, and C are the values of the parameter for the set of simulations reported in the file. Each file contains the outcome of 100 simulations.
Parameters of the model
- X = the lattice length, fixed at 50 for all simulations, and generating a lattice of 2,500 cells.
- H = number of habitat cells.
- F = number of habitat fragments.
Simulation outcomes
Each csv file contains two columns. Each row is the outcome of the simulation.
- Simulation_ID = Identified the Simulation number with the combination of parameters indicated in the file title.
- average_path_distance = the mean shortest distance between pairs of fragments in a simulated landscape.
Code/software
The landscape configuration model code is available at: https://github.com/miudolab/fragmentation