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Importance of the lilac-crowned parrot in pre-dispersal seed predation of Astronium graveolens in a Mexican tropical dry forest

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2010

Emma Ines Villaseñor-Sánchez ,
Rodolfo Dirzo  and
Katherine Renton
Emma Ines Villaseñor-Sánchez
Affiliation:
Posgrado en Ciencias Biológicas, Estación de Biología Chamela, Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México
Rodolfo Dirzo
Affiliation:
Stanford University, Department of Biology, Stanford, CA 94305
Katherine Renton*
Affiliation:
Estación de Biología Chamela (IB-UNAM), Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Apartado Postal 21, Melaque, Jalisco 48980, México
*
1Corresponding author. Email: krenton@ibiologia.unam.mx, karenton@yahoo.co.uk
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Abstract:

Parrots represent a large biomass of canopy granivores in tropical forests, and may be effective pre-dispersal seed predators. We evaluated the importance of the lilac-crowned parrot (Amazona finschi) as a pre-dispersal seed predator of Astronium graveolens (Anacardiaceae) in tropical dry forest. Seeds were collected in fruit-traps beneath 22 trees to compare pre-dispersal seed predation by parrots and insects, and determine whether intensity of seed predation was related to fruit-crop size or the aggregation of fruiting conspecifics around focal trees. Ground-level exclosures were established to compare post-dispersal seed predation by vertebrates and insects. The lilac-crowned parrot predated 43% of seeds pre-dispersal, while insects predated only 1.3%. Intensity of pre-dispersal seed predation by parrots was significantly greater in high-fruiting 0.79-ha resource patches, and was not related to fruit abundance of the focal tree. Foraging parrots also discarded immature fruits below the tree, causing a total 56% pre-dispersal loss of seed production, which was greater than post-dispersal removal by vertebrates, mainly rodents (51%) or insects (36%). Our results show that parrots play an important role as pre-dispersal seed predators in tropical dry forests. The reduction of parrot populations in tropical forests may have consequences for seed predation, affecting recruitment patterns of canopy trees.

Keywords

Amazona finschiChamela-Cuixmalafruit crop sizegranivoryMexicoplant–animal interactionpost-dispersal seed predationPsittacidaeresource patchsemi-deciduous forest
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 26 , Issue 2 , March 2010 , pp. 227 - 236
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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