1.5 Study aims
Given the above, an interdisciplinary approach, that integrates animal
movement and plant ecology is needed to better understand animal
mediated seed dispersal, (Dent & Estrada-Villegas, 2021; Borah &
Beckman, 2022). Here we provide a comprehensive review and synthesis of
the existing primary literature of global tracking studies that monitor
movement of frugivorous animals, assess the current use of animal
tracking in frugivory studies and provide a baseline for future studies.
We identify studies that explicitly estimate dispersal distances (using
estimations of habitat range, gut passage times and foraging behaviour)
and assess how dispersal distances vary with morphological and
environmental traits.
Specifically, we ask (i) How many animal tracking studies focus on the
movement and behaviour of frugivores? (ii) How do these studies extend
our understanding of animal-mediated seed dispersal ecology? (iii) Using
these studies, can we predict how environmental and morphological traits
shape seed dispersal distances among distinct frugivore taxa?