Context‐dependent forest elephant seed dispersal: implications for pathways of elephant‐driven patterns of biodiversity and carbon storage

Seed dispersal by frugivores facilitates plant reproduction, enhancing germination and seedling survival by reducing risks like diseases and predation under parent trees and potentially directing seeds to favorable sites. Elephants, in particular, are known to strongly impact forests via their seed dispersal patterns because of their ability to disperse many very large seeds across long distances. However, knowledge gaps related to spatio‐temporal variability in animal diets, the types and traits of plant species dispersed, and the effectiveness of seed dispersal limit our ability to predict the magnitude of impact that seed dispersers have on plant communities. To better understand how elephant seed dispersal impacts forests, we present a year‐long study of fruit availability, forest elephant diet, and seed dispersal across three sites in Gabon showing that: 1) while seeds were prevalent in dung, forest elephants are consuming fewer seeds than in previous studies. 2) There are significant between‐site differences in the overall species composition of available fruits and dispersed seeds. 3) Forest elephants predominately disperse seeds with high carbon storage potential, and the magnitude of carbon storage potential in elephant‐dispersed seeds varies between sites. 4) Forest elephants are effective dispersers of herbs and lianas – growth forms that are often underrepresented in studies of forest elephant seed dispersal – at two out of three of our sites. And 5) seedling emergence and persistence varied significantly across sites. Our results highlight the fundamental role of fruit availability as a driver of forest elephant diet and seed dispersal patterns, and the variability of elephant‐dispersed species and functional composition among sites. Additionally, among‐site variability in how elephants affect different plant growth types, carbon storage potential, and dispersal effectiveness indicates that predicting the effects of elephants on forest ecosystems depends on site‐specific conditions