Mark Kinver in BBC News: Drivers of biodiversity loss, such as habitat fragmentation and climate change, are threatening seed dispersal around the globe, a study has warned. Scientists said plant species that were unable to adapt were being driven "to the brink of extinction in most human-modified landscapes".The way seeds were spread in landscapes had to be given more attention within conservation schemes, they added. The findings have been published in the journal Biological Conservation.
"The global pollination crisis has been acknowledged as being a major concern," said co-author Soumya Prasad, an ecologist at the Centre for Ecological Science at the Indian Institute of Science. "But there is also a growing crisis around the world when it comes to seed dispersal, yet it is not fully recognised or understood.
"So we reviewed existing information to synthesis it in a form that was not only useful for researchers but also for land managers."
Dr Prasad said that the international team of scientists found that factors identified as the main contributors to biodiversity loss (habitat fragmentation, hunting and over-harvesting, invasive species and climate change) were altering seed dispersal patterns "in very complex ways"....
Landscape with Grazing Donkey. Fragment of a ‘Rest on the Flight into Egypt’. Painted between 1500 and 1524
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