Planting windbreaks on degraded tropical lands may accelerate natural succe
ssional processes by attracting seed-dispersing animals and increasing the
seed rain of forest plants. I examined the effects of planted windbreaks on
seed deposition patterns in dairy farms in Monteverde, Costa Rica, by comp
aring annual seed rain patterns in windbreaks and adjacent pastures I also
examined the effects of windbreak connectivity and remnant trees on seed ra
in patterns. Traps placed in 19 windbreaks and in seven pastures collected
more than 3 million seeds (of 199 species) during the year-long study. Wind
breaks received significantly greater densities and species richness of see
ds of tree and shrub species than pastures. Bird-dispersed seeds occurred i
n greater densities and species numbers in windbreaks than in pastures; in
contrast, the seed rain of bat-dispersed seeds did not differ between windb
reak and pasture habitats. Windbreak connectivity had no detectable effect
on seed dispersal patterns, whereas the presence of remnant trees increased
the number of tree species but not the density of tree seeds. This study s
uggests that windbreaks can dramatically increase the deposition of tree an
d shrub seeds within the agricultural landscape, and that the location of w
indbreaks within the landscape may be important in determining seed deposit
ion patterns.