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Secondary removal of Myristica fatua (Myristicaceae) seeds by crabs in Myristica swamp forests in India

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 March 2014

Shivani Krishna  and
Hema Somanathan
Shivani Krishna
Affiliation:
Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Thiruvananthapuram, CET campus, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala 695016, India
Hema Somanathan*
Affiliation:
Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Thiruvananthapuram, CET campus, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala 695016, India
*
1Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
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Abstract:

Little is known about the role of crabs as seed dispersers and predators. Recently, there has been interest in understanding their influence on plant recruitment in coastal forests. Secondary seed removal by crabs in a swamp-specialist tree, Myristica fatua, was investigated in the rare and patchy freshwater Myristica swamps in the Western Ghats in India. Tethered-line experiments were used to determine the role of crabs as secondary seed-removal agents in two study sites. Crabs transported a large percentage (63.3%) of seeds (n = 60) placed on the forest floor compared with rodents (25%) and other unknown agents (13.3%). Simultaneous choice experiments suggested that the nutrient-rich arils covering seeds were consumed, but there was no evidence for seed predation by crabs. A small percentage (13.3%) of monitored seeds (n = 60) germinated from within crab burrows. The spatial scale of secondary removal by crabs was restricted to < 10 m. In these fragmented swamp forests, secondary removal by crabs retains seeds largely within the swamps, where conditions for their establishment and survival are optimal. Thus, secondary seed removal by crabs could provide temporal and spatial refugia from seed predators such as rodents in Myristica fatua.

Keywords

freshwater crabsnutmegsseed dispersalseed fateseed predationWestern Ghats
Type
Short Communication
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 30 , Issue 3 , May 2014 , pp. 259 - 263
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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