Actual dispersal distances (from parent tree to deposition site) were usually impossible to measure due to the simultaneous use of multiple individuals of each food species by the gibbons.
The gibbon-generated seed shadow was profoundly altered by post-dispersal events and variation in the characteristics of the shadow had little lasting impact on the probability of seeds germinating.
Gibbon's massive work, first published between 1776 and 1788, needs no introduction.
Intragroup and intergroup social interactions in white-handed gibbons.
Hence, we used gut retention times observed for the two gibbon groups and movement patterns to predict where seeds swallowed in each feeding bout would eventually be deposited.
Once an effect of group, source visitation, time or month was ascertained we also investigated aspects of gibbon feeding and ranging behaviour that may explain the effect.
Behavioural patterns had relatively little influence on seed deposition by gibbons in the two studied groups.
Minimum gut retention times were recorded for 13 seed species, for which the first recorded feeding bout was on the third day of gibbon follows.
