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The effect of gut processing on the quality of mistletoe seed dispersal

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 April 2007

Lizanne Roxburgh
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology and Entomology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria 0002, South Africa and Percy Fitzpatrick Institute of African Ornithology, DST Centre of Excellence, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, 7701, South Africa

Abstract

Disperser effectiveness is the contribution that a disperser makes to the future reproduction of a plant (Schupp 1993), and it has two components: quality and quantity of dispersal. Quantity of dispersal is a function of the number of visits that a disperser makes to a fruiting plant and the number of seeds that are dispersed during each visit. Quality of dispersal is a function of the treatment that a seed receives from its disperser and the site that the seed is finally deposited in. The quality of seed dispersal of the mistletoe Phragmanthera dschallensis (Engl.) M.G. Gilbert (Loranthaceae) by frugivorous birds was examined in this study.

Type
Brief Report
Copyright
2007 Cambridge University Press

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