scholarly journals Fruit production, migrant bird visitation, and seed dispersal of Guarea glabra in Panama

Oecologia ◽  
1979 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 185-196 ◽  
Author(s):  
Henry F. Howe ◽  
Diane De Steven
Keyword(s):  
Seed Dispersal ◽  
Fruit Production ◽  
Migrant Bird

scholarly journals Seed dispersal and predation of Buchenavia tomentosa Eichler (Combretaceae) in a Cerrado sensu stricto, midwest Brazil

2015 ◽  
Vol 75 (4 suppl 1) ◽  
pp. 88-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Farias ◽  
M. Sanchez ◽  
M. F. Abreu ◽  
F. Pedroni
Keyword(s):  
Seed Dispersal ◽  
Germination Rate ◽  
Fruit Production ◽  
Sensu Stricto ◽  
High Abundance ◽  
Atta Sexdens ◽  
Fruit Removal ◽  
Leafcutter Ants ◽  
Removal Experiments ◽  
Tapirus Terrestris

Abstract The ecology of seed dispersal is critical to understand the patterns of distribution and abundance of plant species. We investigated seed dispersal aspects associated with the high abundance of Buchenavia tomentosa in the Serra Azul State Park (PESA). We estimated fruit production and conducted fruit removal experiments. We carried out diurnal and nocturnal observations on frugivory as well as germination tests. Fruiting occurred in the dry season and totaled 1,365,015 ± 762,670 fruits.ha–1. B. tomentosa fruits were utilized by eight animal species. The lowland tapir (Tapirus terrestris) was considered the main seed disperser. Leafcutter ants (Atta laevigata and Atta sexdens) participated in the seed cleaning and occasionally dispersed seeds. The beetle Amblycerus insuturatus, blue-and-yellow macaw (Ara ararauna) and red-and-green macaw (Ara chloropterus) were considered pre-dispersal seed predators. The seeds manually cleaned presented higher germination rate (100%) and speed index (4.2 seeds.d–1) than that of seeds with pulp. Germination of seeds found in tapirs’feces was 40%, while for the seeds without pulp it was 25%. The high abundance of B. tomentosa in the cerrado of PESA may be due to massive fruit production, low rates of seed predation, and efficient seed dispersal by tapirs, occurring before the rains which promote germination and recruitment of this species.

Frugivory and seed dispersal in Cymbopetalum baillonii (Annonaceae) at Los Tuxtlas, Mexico

1988 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 157-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosamond Coates-Estrada ◽  
Alejandro Estrada
Keyword(s):  
Seed Dispersal ◽  
Field Experiments ◽  
Narrow Range ◽  
Fruit Production ◽  
Foraging Activity ◽  
Los Tuxtlas ◽  
Parent Tree ◽  
Adult Trees ◽  
Dispersal Agents ◽  
Fruit Dehiscence

ABSTRACTFruit production, frugivore foraging activity and seed dispersal was studied at 10 Cymbopetalum baillonii (Annonaceae) trees during an entire fruiting season. Fruits dehisced during the first six months of the year offer to potential dispersal agents a package of 8–24 arillate seeds. Insects and fungi, however, killed up to 14% of the seeds potentially available for dispersal before fruit dehiscence. Visitation by 24 species of birds and one mammal to the trees closely followed the availability of arillate seeds. The foraging activity of Peromyscus and Heteromys rodents accounted for ≥ 80% mortality of the seeds deposited under the crown of the parent tree. Among those seedlings that became established under the crown mortality was ≥ 90% after 12 months. Seeds dispersed under conspecific fruiting trees experienced intense predation by vertebrates. Field experiments showed that seeds and seedlings planted ≥ 30 m away from adult trees survived significantly longer than those planted under the crown and at distances ≤ 30 m. An unequivocal advantage to dispersal away from the tree and under allospecific trees was evident from the data. A very narrow range of frugivores (N = 8 species) accounted for the quality component of dispersal services to the trees. The tree with the lowest animal visitation and fruit crop was the most efficient in the dispersal of its seeds.

Population biology of west coast Cakile maritima: effects of habitat and predation by Peromyscus maniculatus

1991 ◽  
Vol 69 (12) ◽  
pp. 2620-2630 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert S. Boyd
Keyword(s):  
Seed Dispersal ◽  
Population Biology ◽  
Peromyscus Maniculatus ◽  
Fruit Production ◽  
Seasonal Effects ◽  
Plant Demography ◽  
Sand Burial ◽  
Cakile Maritima ◽  
Plant Animal Interactions ◽  
Survival Patterns

Survival patterns of Cakile maritima Scop. ssp. maritima seedlings in adjacent open-beach and foredune habitats differed, with significant cohort and seasonal effects only for open-beach plants. Open-beach plants were usually killed by fall storms. Some foredune plants (5.3%) survived into a second reproductive season, producing 85% of mature fruits in the foredune. Peromyscus maniculatus (Wagner) removed 95% of fruits matured by foredune plants. Sand burial of fruits increased their chances of escaping predation. Burial was 52-fold more likely for fruits on open-beach plants compared with foredune plants, resulting in lower seed predation on the open beach. Germination from P. maniculatus caches produced 63% of foredune plants, but they represented only 0.002% of all removed seeds. Cache plants had lowered survival relative to noncache plants, so that seed dispersal by P. maniculatus did not benefit C. maritima. Both foredune and open-beach populations were likely to decline if transition patterns among age-classes and fruit production rates observed in 1983 and 1984 remained constant. Because of high fruit production by overwintering plants, foredune plants produced more fruits than needed to maintain plant numbers, but predation by P. maniculatus reduced seed survival to less than 20% of the replacement rate for that habitat. Key words: Cakile maritima, Peromyscus maniculatus, plant–animal interactions, seed dispersal, seed bank, plant demography.

scholarly journals Bird attributes, plant characteristics, and seed dispersal of Pera glabrata (Schott, 1858), (Euphorbiaceae) in a disturbed cerrado area

2007 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 627-634 ◽  
Author(s):  
MR. Francisco ◽  
VO. Lunardi ◽  
M. Galetti
Keyword(s):  
Seed Dispersal ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Secondary Compounds ◽  
Fruit Production ◽  
Southeastern Brazil ◽  
Fruit Choice ◽  
Disturbed Areas ◽  
Plant Characteristics ◽  
Number Of Visits ◽  
Seed Dispersers

Several plant characteristics, such as fruit production, nutrient reward, secondary compounds, and fruit color display, affect fruit choice by birds. On the other hand, several bird attributes affect their efficiency as dispersers. Here we investigate the ornithochoric seed dispersal of Pera glabrata Schott (Euphorbiaceae) in a cerrado fragment in southeastern Brazil. A set of bird attributes, such as frequency of visits, number of diaspores eaten, time spent foraging, methods of taking and handling the diaspores and agonistic interactions were analyzed in order to infer about the potential of each species to act as a seed disperser. Birds were the unique seed dispersers of these oil-rich diaspores. We observed 414 bird visits during 60 hours of focal observations in five trees from December 1999 to January 2000. Twenty bird species from seven families ate the diaspores of P. glabrata, but only 14 species were considered potential seed dispersers because they swallowed the diaspores, increasing the probabilities for the seeds to be defecated and/or regurgitated away from the parent trees. The main potential seed dispersers were: Turdus leucomelas (Muscicapidae), Dacnis cayana (Emberizidae), Colaptes melanochloros (Picidae) and Elaenia spp. (Tyrannidae). We did not find any significant seasonal change in the number of visits on the fruiting trees throughout the day. We also did not find any relation between the number of visits per tree and fruit production. The most effective seed dispersers of P. glabrata were generalist birds, which have a high visiting rate, high fruit consumption rate, and spend short periods on the plants. The large number of species recorded as potential seed dispersers of P. glabrata, being most of them very abundant even in Brazilian disturbed areas, may guarantee seed dispersal of this plant in small fragments and regenerating areas.

Flowering, seed dispersal, seed predation and seedling recruitment in two pyrogenic flowering resprouters

2002 ◽  
Vol 50 (5) ◽  
pp. 545 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew J. Denham ◽  
Tony D. Auld
Keyword(s):  
Seed Dispersal ◽  
Seed Predation ◽  
Seedling Recruitment ◽  
Growth Conditions ◽  
Fruit Production ◽  
Seed Shadow ◽  
South Eastern ◽  
Seed Loss ◽  
Eastern Australia ◽  
South Eastern Australia

A few resprouting plants in fire-prone environments have no local seed bank (soil or canopy) when a fire occurs. These species rely on post-fire flowering and the production of non-dormant seeds to exploit favourable post-fire establishment and growth conditions. For two such pyrogenic flowering species (Doryanthes excelsa Correa and Telopea speciosissima (Smith) R.Br.), we examined the timing of seed release, patterns of fruit production, seed dispersal, seed predation and seedling establishment following a fire in the Sydney region of south-eastern Australia. Both species took some 19 months after the fire to flower and the first seeds were released 2 years after the fire. D. excelsa flowered and fruited only once after the fire. For T. speciosissima, plants also flowered at least once more in the subsequent 5 years, but produced seed in only the first three post-fire flowering years. Fruit production differed between species, with fruiting individuals of D. excelsa producing fewer infructescences, similar numbers of follicles, but many more seeds per follicle than fruiting individuals of T. speciosissima. Ultimately, D. excelsa produced approximately six times as many seeds per m2 and four times as many seeds per adult in one flowering season than T. speciosissima did after four flowering (three successful fruiting) seasons. Seeds were passively dispersed from fruits borne 3–4 m (D. excelsa) or 1–2 m (T. speciosissima) above the ground. Most seeds were found within 5 m (D. excelsa) or 3 m (T. speciosissima) of parent plants. The primary seed shadow of both species was a poor predictor of the distribution of seedlings, with more seedlings occurring further from the adults than expected from the distribution of seeds. Seed loss to predators was high in both species in exclusion experiments where mammals had access to clumps of seeds (77–88%). It was variable and generally lower (8–65%) in experiments where seeds were not locally clumped. However, for T. speciosissima, at one site, some 65% of seeds were lost to mammals and invertebrates in these latter experiments. At this site, these losses appeared to influence subsequent recruitment levels, as very low seedling densities were observed. For both species, germination of seedlings first occurred some 2.5–3 years after the passage of the fire. The percentage of seeds produced to seedlings successfully established was low in D. excelsa (2–3%) and more variable across sites and years in T. speciosissima (0–18%). Resultant post-fire seedling densities of D. excelsa (two sites) and T. speciosissima at one site were similar, but they were much lower at the T. speciosissima site that had high levels of seed predation. Both D. excelsa and T. speciosissima are amongst the slowest woody resprouting species to recruit seedlings after fire in south-eastern Australia and lag years behind species with soil or canopy seed banks.

Increased female reproduction favours the large-seeded palm Attalea humilis in small Atlantic Forest fragments

2012 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 321-325 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cecilia S. Andreazzi ◽  
Alexandra S. Pires ◽  
Clarissa S. Pimenta ◽  
Fernando A. S. Fernandez
Keyword(s):  
Seed Dispersal ◽  
Tropical Forest ◽  
Forest Fragmentation ◽  
Plant Communities ◽  
Light Availability ◽  
Fruit Production ◽  
Forest Fragments ◽  
Female Reproduction ◽  
Abiotic Conditions ◽  
Attalea Humilis

Palms are important components of tropical forest plant communities, due both to their abundance (Henderson et al. 2000) and to the network of interactions with their pollinators and dispersers (Henderson 2002, Zona & Henderson 1989). Forest fragmentation alters the biotic and abiotic conditions of habitats (Ewers & Didham 2006, Fahrig 2003) and it has been observed that Attalea palms increase their densities in disturbed sites (Aguiar & Tabarelli 2009, Andreazzi et al. 2012, Lorenzi et al. 2004). Increased light availability (Salm 2005, Souza & Martins 2004), changes in seed dispersal and predation patterns (Andreazzi et al. 2012, Pimentel & Tabarelli 2004, Wright et al. 2000), and ability to recover after disturbance (Souza & Martins 2004) are among the main mechanisms that have been proposed to explain enhanced palm densities. However, how altered conditions following disturbances influence the dynamics of flower and fruit production is still little understood.

scholarly journals Seed dispersal networks in the Galápagos and the consequences of alien plant invasions

2013 ◽  
Vol 280 (1750) ◽  
pp. 20122112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruben H. Heleno ◽  
Jens M. Olesen ◽  
Manuel Nogales ◽  
Pablo Vargas ◽  
Anna Traveset
Keyword(s):  
Seed Dispersal ◽  
Time Lag ◽  
Habitat Type ◽  
Plant Invasions ◽  
Psidium Guajava ◽  
Fruit Production ◽  
Alien Plants ◽  
Alien Plant ◽  
Plant Introductions ◽  
The Impact

Alien plants are a growing threat to the Galápagos unique biota. We evaluated the impact of alien plants on eight seed dispersal networks from two islands of the archipelago. Nearly 10 000 intact seeds from 58 species were recovered from the droppings of 18 bird and reptile dispersers. The most dispersed invaders were Lantana camara , Rubus niveus and Psidium guajava , the latter two likely benefiting from an asynchronous fruit production with most native plants, which facilitate their consumption and spread. Lava lizards dispersed the seeds of 27 species, being the most important dispersers, followed by small ground finch, two mockingbirds, the giant tortoise and two insectivorous birds. Most animals dispersed alien seeds, but these formed a relatively small proportion of the interactions. Nevertheless, the integration of aliens was higher in the island that has been invaded for longest, suggesting a time-lag between alien plant introductions and their impacts on seed dispersal networks. Alien plants become more specialized with advancing invasion, favouring more simplified plant and disperser communities. However, only habitat type significantly affected the overall network structure. Alien plants were dispersed via two pathways: dry-fruited plants were preferentially dispersed by finches, while fleshy fruited species were mostly dispersed by other birds and reptiles.

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