title: First evidence of bryophyte diaspores in the plumage of transequatorial migrant birds.
abstract: Correlations between transequatorial migratory bird routes and bipolar biogeographic disjunctions in bryophytes suggest that disjunctions between northern and southern high latitude regions may result from bird-mediated dispersal; supporting evidence is, however, exclusively circumstantial. Birds disperse plant units (diaspores) internally via ingestion (endozoochory) or externally by the attachment of diaspores to the body (ectozoochory). Endozoochory is known to be the primary means of bird-mediated dispersal for seeds and invertebrates at local, regional, and continental scales. Data supporting the role of bird-mediated endozoochory or ectozoochory in the long distance dispersal of bryophytes remain sparse, however, despite the large number of bryophytes displaying bipolar disjunctions. To determine if transequatorial migrant shorebirds may play a role in the ectozoochory of bryophyte diaspores, we developed a method for screening feathers of wild birds. We provide the first evidence of microscopic bryophyte diaspores, as well as those from non-bryophyte lineages, embedded in the plumage of long distance transequatorial migrant birds captured in their arctic breeding grounds. The number of diaspores recovered suggests that entire migratory populations may be departing their northern breeding grounds laden with potentially viable plant parts and that they could thereby play significant roles in bipolar range expansions of lineages previously ignored in the migrant bird dispersal literature.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut , Storrs, CT , USA.
authors.forename: Lily R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut , Storrs, CT , USA.
authors.forename: Emily
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Behling
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut , Storrs, CT , USA.
authors.forename: Hannah
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gousse
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut , Storrs, CT , USA.
authors.forename: Emily
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Qian
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut , Storrs, CT , USA.
authors.forename: Chris S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Elphick
authors.affiliation: Centre d'Études Nordiques et Département de Biologie, Université du Québec à Rimouski , Québec , Canada.
authors.forename: Jean-François
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Lamarre
authors.affiliation: Centre d'Études Nordiques et Département de Biologie, Université du Québec à Rimouski , Québec , Canada.
authors.forename: Joël
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bêty
authors.affiliation: Audubon Society of Portland , OR , USA.
authors.forename: Joe
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liebezeit
authors.affiliation: Omora Ethnobotanical Park , Puerto Williams, Antarctic Province , Chile ; Department of Philosophy, University of North Texas , Denton, TX , USA.
authors.forename: Ricardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rozzi
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut , Storrs, CT , USA.
authors.forename: Bernard
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Goffinet
keywords: Bipolar; Bryophyte; Diaspore; Ectozoochory; Endozoochory; Long-distance dispersal; Shorebirds; Sporic; Transequatorial