An ecophysiologically informed model of seed dispersal by orangutans: Linking animal movement with gut passage across time and space
Fauna-mediated ecosystem service provision (e.g. seed dispersal) can be difficult to quantify and predict because it is underpinned by the shifting niches of multiple interacting organisms. Such interactions are especially complex in tropical ecosystems, including endangered peat forests of Central...
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Language: | English |
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OXFORD UNIV PRESS
2018
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| Online Access: | http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/IC150100041 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/91010 |
| _version_ | 1848765485038960640 |
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| author | Tarszisz, E. Tomlinson, Sean Harrison, M.E. Morrogh-Bernard, H.C. Munn, A.J. |
| author_facet | Tarszisz, E. Tomlinson, Sean Harrison, M.E. Morrogh-Bernard, H.C. Munn, A.J. |
| author_sort | Tarszisz, E. |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | Fauna-mediated ecosystem service provision (e.g. seed dispersal) can be difficult to quantify and predict because it is underpinned by the shifting niches of multiple interacting organisms. Such interactions are especially complex in tropical ecosystems, including endangered peat forests of Central Borneo, a biodiversity hot spot and home to the critically endangered orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii). We combined studies of the digestive physiology of captive orangutans in Australia with detailed field studies of wild orangutans in the Natural Laboratory of Peat-Swamp Forest of Sabangau, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. By measuring the gut transit time (TT) of indigestible seed mimics (beads) in captivity and applying this as a temporal constraint to movement data of wild orangutans, we developed a mechanistic, time-explicit spatial model to project the seed dispersal patterns by these large-bodied, arboreal frugivores. We followed seven orangutans and established home range kernels using Time Local Convex Hull (T-LoCoH) modelling. This allowed us to model individual orangutan movements and to adjust these models according to gut transit times to estimate seed dispersal kernels. Female movements were conservative (core ranges of 55 and 52 ha in the wet and dry seasons, respectively) and revisitation rates to the same location of n = 4 in each 24-h block. Male movements were more unpredictable, yielding fragmented core ranges and revisitation rates to the same location of only 1.2 times each 24 h; males also demonstrated large disjunctions where they moved rapidly over long distances and were frequently lost from view. Seed dispersal kernels were nested predictably within the core ranges of females, but not males. We used the T-LoCoH approach to analyse movement ecology, which offered a powerful tool to predict the primary deposition of seeds by orangutans, thereby providing a reliable method for making a priori predictions of seed dispersal dynamics by other frugivores in novel ecosystems. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:36:00Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-91010 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T11:36:00Z |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| publisher | OXFORD UNIV PRESS |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-910102023-05-12T03:49:20Z An ecophysiologically informed model of seed dispersal by orangutans: Linking animal movement with gut passage across time and space Tarszisz, E. Tomlinson, Sean Harrison, M.E. Morrogh-Bernard, H.C. Munn, A.J. Science & Technology Life Sciences & Biomedicine Biodiversity Conservation Ecology Environmental Sciences Physiology Biodiversity & Conservation Environmental Sciences & Ecology ecological service provision endozoochory home range estimates kernel modelling orangutan plant-animal interactions T-LoCoH PEAT-SWAMP FOREST SPECIES DISTRIBUTION HOME-RANGE REPRODUCTIVE-BEHAVIOR POPULATION-STRUCTURE CENTRAL KALIMANTAN HABITAT USE FRUIT BATS CONSERVATION GERMINATION T-LoCoH ecological service provision endozoochory home range estimates kernel modelling orangutan plant–animal interactions Fauna-mediated ecosystem service provision (e.g. seed dispersal) can be difficult to quantify and predict because it is underpinned by the shifting niches of multiple interacting organisms. Such interactions are especially complex in tropical ecosystems, including endangered peat forests of Central Borneo, a biodiversity hot spot and home to the critically endangered orangutan (Pongo pygmaeus wurmbii). We combined studies of the digestive physiology of captive orangutans in Australia with detailed field studies of wild orangutans in the Natural Laboratory of Peat-Swamp Forest of Sabangau, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. By measuring the gut transit time (TT) of indigestible seed mimics (beads) in captivity and applying this as a temporal constraint to movement data of wild orangutans, we developed a mechanistic, time-explicit spatial model to project the seed dispersal patterns by these large-bodied, arboreal frugivores. We followed seven orangutans and established home range kernels using Time Local Convex Hull (T-LoCoH) modelling. This allowed us to model individual orangutan movements and to adjust these models according to gut transit times to estimate seed dispersal kernels. Female movements were conservative (core ranges of 55 and 52 ha in the wet and dry seasons, respectively) and revisitation rates to the same location of n = 4 in each 24-h block. Male movements were more unpredictable, yielding fragmented core ranges and revisitation rates to the same location of only 1.2 times each 24 h; males also demonstrated large disjunctions where they moved rapidly over long distances and were frequently lost from view. Seed dispersal kernels were nested predictably within the core ranges of females, but not males. We used the T-LoCoH approach to analyse movement ecology, which offered a powerful tool to predict the primary deposition of seeds by orangutans, thereby providing a reliable method for making a priori predictions of seed dispersal dynamics by other frugivores in novel ecosystems. 2018 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/91010 10.1093/conphys/coy013 English http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/IC150100041 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ OXFORD UNIV PRESS fulltext |
| spellingShingle | Science & Technology Life Sciences & Biomedicine Biodiversity Conservation Ecology Environmental Sciences Physiology Biodiversity & Conservation Environmental Sciences & Ecology ecological service provision endozoochory home range estimates kernel modelling orangutan plant-animal interactions T-LoCoH PEAT-SWAMP FOREST SPECIES DISTRIBUTION HOME-RANGE REPRODUCTIVE-BEHAVIOR POPULATION-STRUCTURE CENTRAL KALIMANTAN HABITAT USE FRUIT BATS CONSERVATION GERMINATION T-LoCoH ecological service provision endozoochory home range estimates kernel modelling orangutan plant–animal interactions Tarszisz, E. Tomlinson, Sean Harrison, M.E. Morrogh-Bernard, H.C. Munn, A.J. An ecophysiologically informed model of seed dispersal by orangutans: Linking animal movement with gut passage across time and space |
| title | An ecophysiologically informed model of seed dispersal by orangutans: Linking animal movement with gut passage across time and space |
| title_full | An ecophysiologically informed model of seed dispersal by orangutans: Linking animal movement with gut passage across time and space |
| title_fullStr | An ecophysiologically informed model of seed dispersal by orangutans: Linking animal movement with gut passage across time and space |
| title_full_unstemmed | An ecophysiologically informed model of seed dispersal by orangutans: Linking animal movement with gut passage across time and space |
| title_short | An ecophysiologically informed model of seed dispersal by orangutans: Linking animal movement with gut passage across time and space |
| title_sort | ecophysiologically informed model of seed dispersal by orangutans: linking animal movement with gut passage across time and space |
| topic | Science & Technology Life Sciences & Biomedicine Biodiversity Conservation Ecology Environmental Sciences Physiology Biodiversity & Conservation Environmental Sciences & Ecology ecological service provision endozoochory home range estimates kernel modelling orangutan plant-animal interactions T-LoCoH PEAT-SWAMP FOREST SPECIES DISTRIBUTION HOME-RANGE REPRODUCTIVE-BEHAVIOR POPULATION-STRUCTURE CENTRAL KALIMANTAN HABITAT USE FRUIT BATS CONSERVATION GERMINATION T-LoCoH ecological service provision endozoochory home range estimates kernel modelling orangutan plant–animal interactions |
| url | http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/IC150100041 http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/91010 |