A new study suggests that dabbling ducks may be an important seed dispersal pathway for a very wide variety of plant species.
Dabbling ducks (of the subfamily Anatinae) are omnivorous birds that are widespread, numerous, highly mobile and often migratory, and therefore have great potential for long-distance dispersal of other organisms, including plants. However, their ability to act as plant dispersal vectors has received little attention compared to fruit- and berry-eating birds, and is often assumed to be relevant just for wetland plant species.
The research came to its conclusion after analysing data involving the diets of seven Western Palearctic dabbling duck Anas species. The team assessed gut content analyses and the habitats and traits of the different plant species involved, to identify general patterns, relating these to data on gut passage survival and duck movements.
Research revealed that more than 445 plant species (belonging to 189 genera and 57 families) have been recorded in the diet of dabbling ducks, and that wetland plant species make up a mere 40 per cent of those ingested. These came from a very wide range of habitats, illustrating the ducks’ propensity to feed within a broad spectrum of surroundings. They seem to feed opportunistically on a wide cross-section of plant species available across the landscapes which they inhabit.
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Given the millions of individual ducks, the thousands of seeds ingested per individual on a daily basis and known gut passage survival rates, this results in vast numbers of seeds being dispersed by ducks every day.
It can only be concluded that seed ingestion by dabbling ducks appears to be a major dispersal pathway for a far greater number of plant species than was previously thought.
Reference
Soons, M B, Brochet, A-L, Kleyheeg, E, and Green, A J. 2016. Seed dispersal by dabbling ducks: an overlooked dispersal pathway for a broad spectrum of plant species. Journal of Ecology DOI: 10.1111/1365-2745.12531.