Seasonal fruiting and seed dispersal by the brown lemur in a tropical dry forest, north-western Madagascar

Abstract:Community-wide seasonal fruiting and seed dispersal by the common brown lemur (Eulemur fulvus fulvus) was investigated in a tropical dry forest, north-western Madagascar. The brown lemur is the sole disperser of large seeds > 10 mm in diameter. Considering the limited assemblage of dispersers, large-seeded plants should display distinctive fruiting patterns to acquire dispersers. To compare fruiting patterns and seed dispersal by the brown lemur between small-seeded and large-seeded plants, fruiting conditions for 432 trees on a transect, feeding activity over 1212 h of observation, and the composition of 1126 dung samples were recorded for 1 y. Seeds of a total of 52 species were identified through both observations and faecal analysis. As rainfall increased, larger numbers of species and individuals of small-seeded plants fruited. Among the 52 species, the brown lemur dispersed 29 and 13 species with small and large seeds, respectively, during the rainy season. High moisture levels probably favoured seed germination and seedling establishment in various species. During the dry season, although small-seeded species rarely fruited, a few large-seeded species, particularly Vitex beraviensis, formed a long-term fruiting peak and provided essential food resources for the brown lemur. Because seeds of these large-seeded plants were frequently dispersed by the brown lemur, dry-season fruiting seemed to be favourable to avoid competition for dispersers with other plant species.

Download Full-text

Long-term decline of native tropical dry forest remnants in an invaded Hawaiian landscape

Biodiversity and Conservation ◽

10.1007/s10531-019-01748-1 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 28 (7) ◽

pp. 1699-1716 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Joshua Hibit ◽

Curtis C. Daehler

Keyword(s):

Tropical Dry Forest ◽

Dry Forest ◽

Forest Remnants

Download Full-text

Temporal variation in the influence of forest succession on caterpillar communities: A long‐term study in a tropical dry forest

Biotropica ◽

10.1111/btp.12666 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 51 (4) ◽

pp. 529-537 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Karina Boege ◽

Edith Villa‐Galaviz ◽

Antonio López‐Carretero ◽

Rubén Pérez‐Ishiwara ◽

Alejandro Zaldivar‐Riverón ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Temporal Variation ◽

Forest Succession ◽

Tropical Dry Forest ◽

Dry Forest ◽

Term Study ◽

Long Term Study

Download Full-text

Long-term (33 years) rainfall and runoff dynamics in a tropical dry forest ecosystem in western Mexico: Management implications under extreme hydrometeorological events

Forest Ecology and Management ◽

10.1016/j.foreco.2017.09.040 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 426 ◽

pp. 7-17 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

Manuel Maass ◽

Raúl Ahedo-Hernández ◽

Salvador Araiza ◽

Abel Verduzco ◽

Angelina Martínez-Yrízar ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Forest Ecosystem ◽

Tropical Dry Forest ◽

Dry Forest ◽

Management Implications ◽

Western Mexico ◽

Runoff Dynamics

Download Full-text

Distribution of the community of frugivorous birds along a successional gradient in a tropical dry forest in south-western Mexico

Journal of Tropical Ecology ◽

10.1017/s0266467414000601 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 31 (1) ◽

pp. 57-68 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

R. Carlos Almazán-Núñez ◽

María del Coro Arizmendi ◽

Luis E. Eguiarte ◽

Pablo Corcuera

Keyword(s):

Tropical Dry Forest ◽

Dry Season ◽

Dry Forest ◽

Forest Fragments ◽

Dry Forests ◽

Bird Abundance ◽

Frugivorous Birds ◽

Seed Predators ◽

Western Mexico ◽

Successional Forests

Abstract:Few reports have described the relationship between the distribution of frugivorous birds and vegetation successional changes in dry forests. We assessed the abundance and behaviour of frugivorous birds in early, intermediate and mature dry forests in the Balsas river basin, Guerrero, Mexico. We selected nine dry-forest fragments, three fragments per stage, in these three stages of succession. We analysed the vegetation, estimated bird abundances in 10-min count periods, and recorded the way birds process fruits in circular plots (11–15 plots per fragment, 123 plots in total). Birds were classified as seed predators (15% of all individuals in this study), pulp consumers (15%) or legitimate dispersers (70%). Bird abundance was higher in mature forests in the dry season, while abundance and richness of legitimate dispersers and seed predators were positively related to vegetation complexity. Mature forests have a high vegetation complexity and a high cover ofBurseraspecies that produce fruit during the dry season. During the rains, abundance was higher in early-successional sites when the zoochorous plants produced fruit. Legitimate disperser migrants (i.e.Tyrannus vociferans, Myiarchus cinerascensandM. tyrannulus) were widespread, helping the establishment of zoochorous trees such asBurseraspp. in early-successional forests.

Download Full-text

Effects of Long‐Term Ungulate Exclusion and Recent Alien Species Control on the Preservation and Restoration of a Hawaiian Tropical Dry Forest

Conservation Biology ◽

10.1046/j.1523-1739.2000.99006.x ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 14 (2) ◽

pp. 439-453 ◽

Cited By ~ 104

Author(s):

Robert J. Cabin ◽

Stephen G. Weller ◽

David H. Lorence ◽

Tim W. Flynn ◽

Ann K. Sakai ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Alien Species ◽

Tropical Dry Forest ◽

Dry Forest ◽

Preservation And Restoration

Download Full-text

Characterization of Dry-Season Phenology in Tropical Forests by Reconstructing Cloud-Free Landsat Time Series

Remote Sensing ◽

10.3390/rs13234736 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (23) ◽

pp. 4736

Author(s):

Xiaolin Zhu ◽

Eileen H. Helmer ◽

David Gwenzi ◽

Melissa Collin ◽

Sean Fleming ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Time Series ◽

Puerto Rico ◽

Tropical Forests ◽

Tropical Dry Forest ◽

Dry Season ◽

Dry Forest ◽

High Quality ◽

Forest Zone ◽

Fine Resolution ◽

Field Plots

Fine-resolution satellite imagery is needed for characterizing dry-season phenology in tropical forests since many tropical forests are very spatially heterogeneous due to their diverse species and environmental background. However, fine-resolution satellite imagery, such as Landsat, has a 16-day revisit cycle that makes it hard to obtain a high-quality vegetation index time series due to persistent clouds in tropical regions. To solve this challenge, this study explored the feasibility of employing a series of advanced technologies for reconstructing a high-quality Landsat time series from 2005 to 2009 for detecting dry-season phenology in tropical forests; Puerto Rico was selected as a testbed. We combined bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) correction, cloud and shadow screening, and contaminated pixel interpolation to process the raw Landsat time series and developed a thresholding method to extract 15 phenology metrics. The cloud-masked and gap-filled reconstructed images were tested with simulated clouds. In addition, the derived phenology metrics for grassland and forest in the tropical dry forest zone of Puerto Rico were evaluated with ground observations from PhenoCam data and field plots. Results show that clouds and cloud shadows are more accurately detected than the Landsat cloud quality assessment (QA) band, and that data gaps resulting from those clouds and shadows can be accurately reconstructed (R2 = 0.89). In the tropical dry forest zone, the detected phenology dates (such as greenup, browndown, and dry-season length) generally agree with the PhenoCam observations (R2 = 0.69), and Landsat-based phenology is better than MODIS-based phenology for modeling aboveground biomass and leaf area index collected in field plots (plot size is roughly equivalent to a 3 × 3 Landsat pixels). This study suggests that the Landsat time series can be used to characterize the dry-season phenology of tropical forests after careful processing, which will help to improve our understanding of vegetation–climate interactions at fine scales in tropical forests.

Download Full-text

Effect of fragmentation on the Costa Rican dry forest avifauna

PeerJ ◽

10.7717/peerj.2422 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 4 ◽

pp. e2422 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Gilbert Barrantes ◽

Diego Ocampo ◽

José D. Ramírez-Fernández ◽

Eric J. Fuchs

Keyword(s):

Tropical Dry Forest ◽

Bird Community ◽

Dry Season ◽

Costa Rican ◽

Dry Forest ◽

Forest Fragment ◽

Avian Community ◽

Forest Patches ◽

Species Occupancy ◽

Avian Assemblages

Deforestation and changes in land use have reduced the tropical dry forest to isolated forest patches in northwestern Costa Rica. We examined the effect of patch area and length of the dry season on nestedness of the entire avian community, forest fragment assemblages, and species occupancy across fragments for the entire native avifauna, and for a subset of forest dependent species. Species richness was independent of both fragment area and distance between fragments. Similarity in bird community composition between patches was related to habitat structure; fragments with similar forest structure have more similar avian assemblages. Size of forest patches influenced nestedness of the bird community and species occupancy, but not nestedness of assemblages across patches in northwestern Costa Rican avifauna. Forest dependent species (species that require large tracts of mature forest) and assemblages of these species were nested within patches ordered by a gradient of seasonality, and only occupancy of species was nested by area of patches. Thus, forest patches with a shorter dry season include more forest dependent species.

Download Full-text