Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-xbtfd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T08:19:11.127Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Dispersal and predation of Eschweilera ovata seeds in the Atlantic Forest of Southern Bahia, Brazil

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 February 2012

Fernanda de Souza Vilela ,
Kevin Michael Flesher  and
Mauro Ramalho
Fernanda de Souza Vilela
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Ecologia e Polinização – ECOPOL, Universidade Federal da Bahia-UFBA; Center for Biodiversity Studies, Plantações Michelin da Bahia, Ltda., Michelin Ecological Reserve, Rodovia Ituberá/Camamu, Km 05, Igrapiúna – BA, CEP 45443-000
Kevin Michael Flesher*
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Ecologia e Polinização – ECOPOL, Universidade Federal da Bahia-UFBA; Center for Biodiversity Studies, Plantações Michelin da Bahia, Ltda., Michelin Ecological Reserve, Rodovia Ituberá/Camamu, Km 05, Igrapiúna – BA, CEP 45443-000
Mauro Ramalho
Affiliation:
Laboratório de Ecologia e Polinização – ECOPOL, Universidade Federal da Bahia-UFBA; Center for Biodiversity Studies, Plantações Michelin da Bahia, Ltda., Michelin Ecological Reserve, Rodovia Ituberá/Camamu, Km 05, Igrapiúna – BA, CEP 45443-000
*
1Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

A majority of Neotropical rain-forest trees have fruits evolved for animal consumption suggesting that seed-dispersal mutualisms are fundamental interactions structuring these ecosystems (Howe 1986, Howe & Smallwood 1982, van Roosmalen 1985). However, whether frugivores act as seed dispersers or predators of particular plant species is unknown for most tropical trees. Trees of the family Lecythidaceae are widespread in Neotropical rain forests forming an important component of the plant community (Aparecida Lopes 2007, Mori 1990, Mori et al. 2001, Sabatier & Prevost 1990), yet studies of plant–animal interactions are few (Jorge & Peres 2005, Silvius & Fragoso 2003, Trivedi et al. 2004). Results suggest that Lecythidaceae trees with zoochoric fruits are principally dispersed by bats, birds, rodents and primates (Prance & Mori 1983), although we know little about animal interactions with Eschweilera seeds.

Keywords

Atlantic forestBahiaEschweilera ovataLecythidaceaeSciurus aestuansseed dispersalseed predation
Type
Short Communication
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 28 , Issue 2 , March 2012 , pp. 223 - 226
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

LITERATURE CITED

APARECIDA LOPES, M. 2007. Population structure of Eschweilera coriacea (DC.) S.A. Mori in forest fragments in eastern Brazilian Amazonia. Revista Brasileira de Botanica 30:509–519.Google Scholar
ASQUITH, N. M., WRIGHT, S. J. & CLAUSS, M. J. 1997. Does mammal community composition control recruitment in neotropical forests? Evidence from Panama. Ecology 78:941–946.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BECK-KING, H. & VON HELVERSEN, O. 1999. Home range, population density, and food resources of Agouti paca (Rodentia: Agoutidae) in Costa Rica: a study of alternative methods. Biotropica 31:675–685.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BODMER, R. E. 1989. Frugivory in Amazonian Artiodactyla: evidence for the evolution of the ruminant stomach. Journal of Zoology (London) 219;457–467.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CONNELL, J. H. 1971. On the role of natural enemies in preventing competitive exclusion in some marine animals and rain forest trees. Pp. 298–304 in den Boer, P. J. & Gradwell, G. R. (eds.). Dynamics of numbers in populations. Center for Agricultural Publishing and Documentation, Wageningen.Google Scholar
FLESHER, K. M. 2006. Explaining the biogeography of the medium and large mammals in a human-dominated landscape in the Atlantic Forest of southern Bahia, Brazil: evidence for the role of agroforestry systems as wildlife habitat. Ph.D. thesis, Rutgers University, New Brunswick.Google Scholar
FORGET, P. M. 1990. Seed-dispersal of Vouacapoua americana (Caesalpiniaceae) by caviomorph rodents in French Guiana. Journal of Tropical Ecology 6:459–468.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
FORGET, P. M. & MILLERON, T. 1991. Evidence for secondary seed dispersal by rodents in Panama. Oecologia 87:596–599.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
GALETTI, M., PASCOAL, M. & PEDRONI, F. 2007. Predation on palm nuts (Syagrus romanzoffiana) by squirrels (Sciurus ingrami) in south-east Brazil. Journal of Tropical Ecology 8:121–123.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GUSSON, E., SEBBENN, A. M. & KAGEYAMA, P. Y. 2006. Sistema de reprodução em populações de Eschweilera ovata (Cambess.) Miers. Revista Árvore 30:491–502.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
HALLWACHS, W. 1986. Agoutis (Dasyprocta punctata): the inheritors of guapinol (Hymenaea courbaril: Leguminosae). Pp. 285–304 in Estrada, A. & Fleming, T. H. (eds.). Frugivores and seed dispersal. Dr W. Junk Publishers, Dordrecht.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
HEIDUCK, S. 1997. Food choice in masked titi monkeys (Callicebus personatus melanochir): selectivity or opportunism? International Journal of Primatology 18:487–502.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
HOWE, H. F. 1986. Seed dispersal by fruit-eating birds and mammals. Pp. 123–189 in Murray, D. R. (ed.). Seed dispersal. Academic Press, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
HOWE, H. F. & SMALLWOOD, J. 1982. Ecology of seed dispersal. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 13:201–228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
JANZEN, D. H. 1970. Herbivores and the number of tree species in tropical forest. American Naturalist 104:501–528.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
JORGE, M. S. P. & PERES, C. A. 2005. Population density and home range size of red-rumped agoutis (Dasyprocta leporina) within and outside a natural Brazil nut stand in southeastern Amazonia. Biotropica 37:317–321.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LAUFER, J. 2009. Variação na estrutura da assembléia de mamíferos de médio e grande porte entre dois períodos de amostragem na Reserva Ecológica Michelin, Igrapiúna, Bahia, Brasil. M.Sc. thesis, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, Ilhéus, Brazil.Google Scholar
LIMA, P. 2005. Birds of the Michelin Ecological Reserve, Ituberá, Bahia. Plantações Michelin da Bahia, Brazil. 14 pp.Google Scholar
MORI, S. A. 1990. Diversificação e conservação das Lecythidaceae Neotropicais. Acta Botanica Brasilica 4:45–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MORI, S. A., BECKER, P., & KINCAID, D. 2001. Lecythidaceae of a central Amazonian lowland forest: implications for conservation. Pp. 54–67 in Bierregaard, R. O., Gascon, C., Lovejoy, T. E. & Mesquita, R. (eds.). Lessons from the Amazon: the ecology and conservation of a fragmented forest. Yale University Press, New Haven.Google Scholar
PERES, C. A. 1991. Seed predation of Cariniana micrantha (Lecythidaceae) by brown capuchin monkeys in central Amazonia. Biotropica 23:262–270.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
PERES, C. A. & BAIDER, C. 1997. Seed dispersal, spatial distribution and population structure of Brazilnut trees (Bertholletia excelsa) in southeastern Amazonia. Journal of Tropical Ecology 13:595–616.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
PIOTTO, D., MONTAGNINNI, F., THOMAS, W., ASHTON, M. & OLIVER, C. 2009. Forest recovery after swidden cultivation across a 40-year chronosequence in the Atlantic forest of southern Bahia, Brazil. Plant Ecology 205:261–272.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
PRANCE, G. T. & MORI, S. A. 1978. Observation on the fruits and seeds of Neotropical Lecythidaceae. Brittonia 30:21–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
PRANCE, G. T. & MORI, S. A. 1983. Dispersal and distribution of Lecythidaceae and Chrysobalanaceae. Sonderbände des Naturwissenschaftlichen Vereins in Hamburg 7:163–186.Google Scholar
REGIS, C. D. 2008. Aspectos morfológicos, anatômicos e bioquímicos intrínsecos ao desenvolvimento e dispersão de sementes e estabelecimento de plântulas de Eschweilera ovata Cambess Miers. M.Sc. thesis, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, Brazil.Google Scholar
ROCHA, L. S. 2011. Fenologia e estrutura do componente arbóreo em áreas de diferentes estágios sucessionais de floresta Atlântica na Reserva Ecológica da Michelin, Bahia, Brasil. M.Sc. thesis, Universidade Estadual de Santa Cruz, Ilhéus, Bahia, Brazil.Google Scholar
SABATIER, D. & PREVOST, M. F. 1990. Quelques données sur la composition floristique et al diversité des peuplements forestiers de Guyane française. Bois et Forêts des Tropiques 219:31–55.Google Scholar
SCHUPP, E. W. 1993. Quantity, quality and the effectiveness of seed dispersal by animals. Vegetatio 107/108;15–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SILVIUS, K. M. & FRAGOSO, J. M. V. 2003. Red-rumped agouti (Dasyprocta leporina) home range use in an Amazonian forest: implications for the aggregated distribution of forest trees. Biotropica 35:74–83.Google Scholar
TRIVEDI, M. R., CORNEJO, F. H. & WATKINSON, A. R. 2004. Seed predation on Brazil nuts (Bertholletia excelsa) by macaws (Psittacidae) in Madre de Dios, Peru. Biotropica 36:118–122.Google Scholar
VAN ROOSMALEN, M. G. M. 1985. Fruits of the Guianan Flora. Drukkerij Veenman B. V., Wageningen. 483 pp.Google Scholar
VILELA, F. S. 2008. Influência dos consumidores de sementes no recrutamento de plântulas de biriba Eschweilera ovata Cambess Miers, Lecythidaceae, na Mata Atlântica, Sul da Bahia. M.Sc. thesis, Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, Brazil.Google Scholar