Gut passage had little effect on germination and plant establishment, while the faecal matrix mainly had a negative effect. This suggests that dispersal effectiveness can be high after endozoochory, but especially when faeces disintegrate, as when egested into water or disaggregated on land.

Here we investigated the effects of passage through the mallard gut and subsequent sowing within mallard faeces on germination, plant growth, plant biomass and plant reproduction using two wetland plants commonly dispersed by waterbirds in Europe: Eleocharis palustris and Juncus bufonius agg.