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Edge effects on post-dispersal seed removal in a fragmented rain forest in French Guiana

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 January 2005

Stéphanie Chauvet
Affiliation:
Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Département Ecologie et Gestion de la Biodiversité, UMR 5176 CNRS-MNHN, 4 av. du Petit Château, F-91800 Brunoy, France
Pierre-Michel Forget
Affiliation:
Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Département Ecologie et Gestion de la Biodiversité, UMR 5176 CNRS-MNHN, 4 av. du Petit Château, F-91800 Brunoy, France

Abstract

Forest fragmentation results in the creation of edge habitats, which can be responsible for large modifications in community dynamics (Murcia 1995, Saunders et al. 1991). Plant recruitment along edges is favoured for early successional species but is limited for core forest species (Fox et al. 1997, Williams-Linera 1990). Because the former generally produce large quantities of small seeds while the latter produce fewer large seeds (Hammond & Brown 1995), seed resource availability along the edge is biased in favour of smaller seeds. Such seeds are more likely to attract small rodents than large scatterhoarding species (Adler 1998, Forget et al. 1998). Moreover, the density and activity of forest animals in edge habitats can also be altered as a consequence of their specific responses to habitat changes, varying from edge avoidance to edge preference (Bowers & Dooley 1993, Goosem 2000). These changes in seed resource availability and rodent communities can have cascading effects on plant–rodent interactions in edge habitats and post-dispersal seed predation processes (Holl & Lulow 1997).

Type
Brief Report
Copyright
2005 Cambridge University Press

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