Fruit removal efficiency and success: influence of crop size in a neotropical treelet

详细信息    查看全文

• 作者：Raúl Ortiz-Pulido ; Yuri V. Albores-Barajas and S. Anaid Díaz
• 关键词：Dispersal efficiency ; Dispersal success ; Fruit removal success ; Fruit crop size hypothesis ; Seed dispersal ; Seed dispersal ratio
• 刊名：Plant Ecology
• 出版年：2007
• 出版时间：March, 2007
• 年：2007
• 卷：189
• 期：1
• 页码：147-154
• 全文大小：166 KB
• 刊物类别：Biomedical and Life Sciences
• 刊物主题：Life Sciences
  Plant Sciences
  
• 出版者：Springer Netherlands
• ISSN：1573-5052

文摘

The reproductive success of animal-dispersed plants is closely linked to the number of seeds that they are able to disperse. The fruit crop size hypothesis states that a plant with large fruit crop size will attract more dispersers than a plant with a smaller fruit crop, which may result in more seeds being dispersed from the foremost. In this study, we experimentally examined the effect of crop size and other factors on primary seed dispersal in a neotropical shrub/tree, Casearia corymbosa (Flacourtiaceae). We used two predictive variables of reproductive success, which produce an accurate picture of seed dispersal ratio: fruit removal efficiency (proportion of a fruit crop removed by frugivores) and fruit removal success (relative contribution of each individual tree to the number of fruits removed in the population). We established two levels of fruit crop size at the C. corymbosa individuals, using plants with large (150 fruits) and small crops (50 fruits). We found that individual plants with larger crops had significantly higher values of fruit removal efficiency (92.6%) and success (5%) than plants with smaller crops (69.3% and 1.3%, respectively). Fruit removal efficiency was related to vegetation type, plant height and fruit width, but the variance explained by these variables was low ( < 8%). Fruit removal success was significantly related to crop size ( > 90% of the variance explained). These results suggest that fruit removal efficiency and success are strongly related to fruit crop size of C. corymbosa plants.