Abstract In the moist Neotropics, vertebrate frugivores
have a much greater role in the dispersal of forest and
successional woody plants than wind, and bats rather than
birds play the dominant role in dispersing early successional
species. I investigated whether these patterns also
occurred in a Philippine montane rainforest and adjacent
successional vegetation. I also asked whether seed mass
was related to probability of dispersal between habitats. A
greater number of woody species and stems in the forest
produced vertebrate-dispersed seeds than wind-dispersed
seeds. Although input of forest seeds into the successional
area was dominated by vertebrate-dispersed seeds in
terms of species richness, wind-dispersed seeds landed in
densities 15 times higher. Frugivorous birds dispersed
more forest seeds and species into the successional area
than bats, and more successional seeds and species into
the forest. As expected, seed input declined with distance
from source habitat. Low input of forest seeds into the
successional area at the farthest distance sampled, 40 m
from forest edge, particularly for vertebrate-dispersed
seeds, suggests very limited dispersal out of forest even
into a habitat in which woody successional vegetation
provides perches and fruit resources. For species of
vertebrate-dispersed successional seeds, probability of
dispersal into forest declined significantly with seed mass.
Keywords Distance from edge · Forest regeneration ·
Frugivores · Fruit · Seed mass