Regeneration data of bryophyte fragments extracted from feces of Chloephaga picta and Attagis malouinus in Navarino Island, sub-Antarctic Chile ...

• Main Authors: Lazaro, Xenabeth, Mackenzie, Roy, Jimenez, Jaime
• Format: Dataset
• Language: English
• Published: Dryad 2021
• Subjects: Ecology; FOS Biological sciences; Antarctic; Antarc*
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.ghx3ffbmm; https://datadryad.org/stash/dataset/doi:10.5061/dryad.ghx3ffbmm

Birds are known to act as potential vectors for the exogenous dispersal of bryophyte diaspores. Given the totipotency of vegetative tissue of many bryophytes, birds could also contribute to endozoochorous bryophyte dispersal. Research has shown that fecal samples of the upland goose (Chloephaga picta) and white-bellied seedsnipe (Attagis malouinus) contain bryophyte fragments. Although few fragments from bird feces have been known to regenerate, the evidence for the viability of diaspores following passage through the bird intestinal tract remains ambiguous. We evaluated the role of endozoochory in these same herbivorous and sympatric bird species in sub-Antarctic Chile. We hypothesized that fragments of bryophyte gametophytes retrieved from their feces are viable and capable of regenerating new plant tissue. Eleven feces samples containing undetermined moss fragments from C. picta and A. malouinus, six moss fragment samples from wild collected mosses (Conostomum tetragonum, Syntrichia robusta, and ...