L. Felipe Daibes, Haldre S. Rogers, Fulbert J. K. Gnonlonfoun, Talita Zupo, Rafael Barbizan Sühs, Daniella Vinha, Débora Cristina Rother, Paulo Alves de Almeida, Angela Luciana de Ávila, José Marcos Barbosa, Romualdo Morelatto Begnini, Antônio Jorge Tourinho Braga, Marcos Vinicius Wincker Caldeira, Elivane Salete Capellesso, André Targa Cavassani, Eliana Cazetta, Ricardo G. César, Marilena Menezes Silva Conde, Cléber Covre, Henrique Machado Dias, Pavel Dodonov, Rinaldo Luíz Caraciolo Ferreira, Cintia Gomes Freitas, Milena Gama, Gerhard Gottsberger, Flávia Moraes de Jesus, Carlos Alfredo Joly, Ute Christiane Knörr, Sustanis Horn Kunz, Vinícius Londe, Ana Lícia Patriota Feliciano Marangon, Luiz Carlos Marangon, Fabiana Maraschin-Silva, Marcia C. M. Marques, Adriana Maria Zanforlin Martini, Valéria Forni Martins, Larissa Lopes Mellinger, Luís Fernando Tavares de Menezes, Sandra Bos Mikich, Luiz Fernando Duarte de Moraes, Marcelo Trindade Nascimento, Marcelo Augusto Meratti de Oliveira, Monique Perini, Julia Fleming Pimentel, Daniel Piotto, Rita de Cássia Quitete Portela, Janaine Isabela da Silva Rocha, Ricardo Ribeiro Rodrigues, Jerônimo Boelsums Barreto Sansevero, Amanda S. Santos, Flavio Antônio Maës dos Santos, Jaqueline Pêgo Quintino Santos, Nelson Augusto Santos Junior, Tanise Luisa Sausen, Carlos Rodrigues da Silva, Joselane Príscila Gomes da Silva, Jorge Yoshio Tamashiro, Luiz Roberto Zamith, Leticia Bolian Zimback, Raquel F. Zorzanelli, Victor P. Zwiener, Renato Augusto Ferreira de Lima, Luís Fábio Silveira, Marco Aurélio Pizo
Abstract The seed rain, that is, the flux of seeds landing on a given location, is a fundamental ecological process driving community assembly and forest regeneration. Because seed rain studies usually focus on a particular site, the influence of landscape features—such as deforestation and fragmentation—on seed dispersal remains poorly understood at the broad scale. We investigated how patch size, forest cover, number of patches, precipitation and latitude influence seed rain parameters (proportion of zoochorous species, seed density, species richness and within‐site spatial turnover) spanning a latitudinal gradient from 7° S to 29° S in a highly fragmented global biodiversity hotspot: the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. This is the first study to synthesize seed rain patterns across such a large extent. We compiled a database from 1905 seed traps in 52 study patches. Over 1.3 million seeds were sampled and 1029 taxa were identified to at least the family level. Total precipitation and forest cover were the most important predictors for the proportion of zoochorous species. Seed density increased with the number of patches (fragmentation) for both zoochorous and non‐zoochorous species. Species richness and turnover were strongly predicted by forest cover; therefore, increasing with habitat amount, especially in sites with higher precipitation levels. Synthesis . Along with precipitation, forest cover emerges as a fundamental driver of alpha and beta diversity in the seed rain. This highlights the role of habitat amount at the landscape level over patch‐level features, like patch size, for seed dispersal. However, increased seed density can be related to higher dispersal rates in forest borders. Understanding these drivers of seed rain can help predict forest regeneration trajectories that shape the future configuration of fragmented landscapes.