Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jn8rn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T12:58:36.104Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Interactions between the invasive tree Melia azedarach (Meliaceae) and native frugivores in South Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2011

Friederike A. Voigt ,
Nina Farwig  and
Steven D. Johnson
Friederike A. Voigt*
Affiliation:
Centre for Invasion Biology, School of Biological and Conservation Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, P Bag X01, Scottsville, Pietermaritzburg 3209, South Africa
Nina Farwig
Affiliation:
Faculty of Biology, Department of Ecology – Conservation Ecology, Philipps University of Marburg, Germany
Steven D. Johnson
Affiliation:
Centre for Invasion Biology, School of Biological and Conservation Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, P Bag X01, Scottsville, Pietermaritzburg 3209, South Africa
*
1Corresponding author. Email: friederike.a.voigt@gmail.com
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

The spread of many invasive plants is facilitated through seed dispersal by frugivorous animals. The effectiveness of various frugivores as dispersers of the seeds of Melia azedarach, a highly invasive alien tree species, was evaluated in South Africa in savanna and bushveld vegetation. During 264 h of observation, seven bird species and one bat species were recorded foraging on fruiting trees of M. azedarach. The most common visitors were the dark-capped bulbul (Pycnonotus barbatus) followed by Wahlberg's epauletted fruit bat (Epomophorus wahlbergi), but both species dropped nearly as many seeds as they dispersed. Knysna turaco (Tauraco corythaix) dispersed the highest number of fruits per minute, but occurred in low abundance in our study sites. Seed germination differed significantly between de-pulped fruits and untreated fruits after 2 mo, but was similar after 4 mo. Germination success did not differ between animal-handled and hand-depulped fruits. In contrast to the high germination success in the greenhouse, seedlings showed very low recruitment in the field. Thus, M. azedarach seems likely to benefit from frugivores (particularly dark-capped bulbul and Wahlberg's epauletted fruit bat) dispersing seeds to suitable microsites.

Keywords

bat dispersalbird dispersalgermination experimentsgut passagepioneerseedling distribution
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 27 , Issue 4 , July 2011 , pp. 355 - 363
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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

ALLENDORF, F. W. & LUNDQUIST, L. L. 2003. Introduction: population biology, evolution, and control of invasive species. Conservation Biology 17:24–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BLEHER, B. & BöHNING-GAESE, K. 2001. Consequences of frugivore diversity for seed dispersal, seedling establishment and the spatial pattern of seedlings and trees. Oecologia 129:385–394.Google Scholar
BOTHA, C. J. & PENRITH, M. L. 2009. Potential plant poisoning in dogs and cats in southern Africa. Journal of the South African Veterinary Association 80:63–74.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
BUCKLEY, Y. M., ANDERSON, S., CATTERALL, C., CORLETT, R. T., ENGEL, T., GOSPER, C. R., NATHAN, R., RICHARDSON, D. M., SETTER, M., SPIEGEL, O., VIVIAN-SMITH, G., VOIGT, F. A., WEIR, J. & WESTCOTT, D. A. 2006. Management of plant invasions mediated by frugivore interaction. Journal of Applied Ecology 43:848–857.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CHEN, J., DENG, X. B., BAI, Z. L., YANG, O., CHEN, G. Q., LIU, Y. & LIU, Z. Q. 2001. Fruit characteristics and Muntiacus muntijak vaginalis (Muntjac) visits to individual plants of Choerospondias axillaris. Biotropica 33:718–722.Google Scholar
CIPOLLINI, M. L. & LEVEY, D. J. 1998. Secondary metabolites as traits of ripe fleshy fruits: a response to Eriksson and Ehrlen. American Naturalist 152:908–911.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
COATES PALGRAVE, K. 1983. Trees of Southern Africa. (Second edition). Struik Publishers, Cape Town. 959 pp.Google Scholar
COMPTON, S. G., CRAIG, A. & WATERS, I. W. R. 1996. Seed dispersal in an African fig tree: birds as high quantity, low quality dispersers? Journal of Biogeography 23:553–563.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CORDEIRO, N. J., PATRICK, D. A. G., MUNISI, B. & GUPTA, V. 2004. Role of dispersal in the invasion of an exotic tree in an East African submontane forest. Journal of Tropical Ecology 20:449–457.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CORLETT, R. T. 2002. Frugivory and seed dispersal in degraded tropical East Asian landscapes. Pp. 451–465 in LEVEY, D. J., SILVA, W. R. & GALETTI, M. (eds.). Seed dispersal and frugivory: ecology, evolution and conservation. CAB International, Wallingford.Google Scholar
CORLETT, R. T. 2005. Interactions between birds, fruit bats and exotic plants in urban Hong Kong, South China. Urban Ecosystems 8:275–283.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CRONK, Q. C. B. & FULLER, J. L. 1995. Plant invaders. The threat to natural ecosystems. Chapman and Hall, London. 241 pp.Google Scholar
DRUMMOND, B. A. 2005. The selection of native and invasive plants by frugivorous birds in Maine. Northeastern Naturalist 12:33–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
FRY, C. H., KEITH, S. & URBAN, E. K. 1988. The birds of Africa. Volume III. Academic Press Limited, London. 811 pp.Google Scholar
GHAZOUL, J. 2002. Seed predators and the enemy release hypothesis. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 17:308.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GOSPER, C. R. 2004. Fruit characteristics of invasive bitou bush, Chrysanthemoides monilifera (Asteraceae), and a comparison with co-occurring native plant species. Australian Journal of Botany 52:223–230.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GOSPER, C. R., STANSBURY, C. D. & VIVIAN-SMITH, G. 2005. Seed dispersal of fleshy-fruited invasive plants by birds: contributing factors and management options. Diversity and Distributions 11:549–558.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GREEN, R. J. 1993. Avian seed dispersal in and near subtropical rain-forests. Wildlife Research 20:535–557.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GRYJ, E. O. & DOMINGUEZ, C. A. 1996. Fruit removal and postdispersal survivorship in the tropical dry forest shrub Erythroxylum havanense: ecological and evolutionary implications. Oecologia 108:368–374.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
HENDERSON, L. 1991. Invasive alien woody plant of northern Cape. Bothalia 21:177–189.Google Scholar
HENDERSON, L. 2001. Alien weeds and invasive plants. Paarl Printers, Cape Town. 300 pp.Google Scholar
HENDERSON, L. & MUSIL, K. 1984. Exotic woody plant invaders of Transvaal. Bothalia 15:297–313.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
HOCKEY, P. A. E., DEAN, W. R. J. & RYAN, P. G. 2005. Roberts – birds of Southern Africa. (Eighth edition). The Trustees of the John Voelcker Bird Book Fund, Cape Town. 1296 pp.Google Scholar
HOWE, H. F. & SMALLWOOD, J. 1982. Ecology of seed dispersal. Annual Review Ecological Systematics 13:201–228.Google Scholar
JANZEN, D. H. 1970. Herbivores and number of tree species in tropical forests. American Naturalist 104:501–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
KEITH, S., URBAN, E. K. & Fry, C. H. 1992. The birds of Africa. Volume IV. Academic Press Limited, London. 609 pp.Google Scholar
KITAMURA, S., YUMOTO, T., POONSWAD, P., CHUAILUA, P., PLONGMAI, K., MARUHASHI, T. & NOMA, N. 2002. Interactions between fleshy fruits and frugivores in a tropical seasonal forest in Thailand. Oecologia 133:559–572.Google Scholar
KNIGHT, R. 1986. A comparative analysis of fleshy fruit display in alien and indigenous plants. Pp. 171–178 in MACDONALD, I., KRUGER, F. & FERRAR, A. (eds.). The ecology and management of biological invasions in Southern Africa. Oxford University Press, Cape Town.Google Scholar
KOOP, A. L. 2004. Differential seed mortality among habitats limits the distribution of the invasive non-native shrub Ardisia elliptica. Plant Ecology 172:237–249.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
KORINE, C., IZHAKI, I. & ARAD, Z. 1999. Is the Egyptian fruit-bat Rousettus aegyptiacus a pest in Israel? An analysis of the bat's diet and implications for its conservation. Biological Conservation 88:301–306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LLORET, F., MEDAIL, F., BRUNDU, G., CAMARDA, I., MORAGUES, E., RITA, J., LAMBDON, P. & HULME, P. E. 2005. Species attributes and invasion success by alien plants on Mediterranean islands. Journal of Ecology 93:512–520.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MABBERLEY, D. J. 1984. A monograph of Melia in Asia and the Pacific. The history of White Cedar and Persian Lilac. Gardens’ Bulletin Singapore 37:49–64.Google Scholar
OELRICHS, P. B., HILL, M. W., VALLELY, P. J., MACLEOD, J. K. & MOLINSKY, T. F. 1983. Toxic tetranortriterpenes of the fruit of Melia azedarach. Phytochemistry 22:531–534.Google Scholar
PARKER, I. M. & HAUBENSAK, K. A. 2002. Comparative pollinator limitation of two non-native shrubs: do mutualisms influence invasions? Oecologia 130:250–258.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
PHUA, D. H., TSAI, W.-J., GER, J., DENG, J.-F. & YANG, C.-C. 2008. Human Melia azedarach poisoning. Clinical Toxicology 46:1067–1070.Google Scholar
QUINN, G. P. & KEOUGH, M. J. 2002. Experimental design and data analysis for biologists. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 537 pp.Google Scholar
RENNE, I. J., BARROW, W. C., RANDALL, L. A. J. & BRIDGES, W. C. 2002. Generalized avian dispersal syndrome contributes to Chinese tallow tree (Sapium sebiferum, Euphorbiaceae) invasiveness. Diversity and Distributions 8:285–295.Google Scholar
RICHARDSON, D. M., MACDONALD, I. A. W., HOFFMANN, J. H. & HENDERSON, L. 1997. Alien plant invasions. Pp. 535–570 in Cowling, R. M., Richardson, D. M. & Pierce, S. M. (eds.). Vegetation of Southern Africa. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
RICHARDSON, D. M., ALLSOPP, N., D'ANTONIO, C. M., MILTON, S. J. & REJMANEK, M. 2000. Plant invasions – the role of mutualisms. Biological Reviews 75:65–93.Google ScholarPubMed
SAKAI, A. K., ALLENDORF, F. W., HOLT, J. S., LODGE, D. M., MOLOFSKY, J., With, K. A., BAUGHMAN, S., CABIN, R. J., COHEN, J. E., ELLSTRAND, N. C., McCAULEY, D. E., O'NEIL, P., PARKER, I. M., THOMPSON, J. N. & WELLER, S. G. 2001. The population biology of invasive species. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 32:305–332.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SCHAEFER, H. M., SCHMIDT, V. & WINKLER, H. 2003. Testing the defence trade-off hypothesis: how contents of nutrients and secondary compounds affect fruit removal. Oikos 102:318–328.Google Scholar
SHERLEY, G. 2000. Invasive species in the Pacific: a technical review and draft regional strategy. SPREP. Apia Samoa. 190 pp.Google Scholar
SKINNER, J. D. & CHIMIMBA, C. T. 2005. The mammals of the Southern African Subregion. (Third edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 812 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SMITH, C. A. 1966. Common names of South African plants. Botanical Survey Memoir 35. Botanical Research Institute, Pretoria. 642 pp.Google Scholar
SPACE, J. C., Waterhouse, B., Denslow, J. S. & Nelson, D. 2000. Invasive Plant Species on Rota, Commonwealth of the Northern Marianna Islands. U.S.D.A. Forest Service Pacific Research Station, Institute of Pacific Islands Forestry, Honolulu, Hawai. 31 pp.Google Scholar
TOURN, G. M., MENVIELLE, M. F., SCOPEL, A. L. & PIDAL, B. 1999. Clonal strategies of a woody weed: Melia azedarach. Plant and Soil 217:111–117.Google Scholar
TRAVESET, A., RIERA, N. & MAS, R. E. 2001. Passage through bird guts causes interspecific differences in seed germination characteristics. Functional Ecology 15:669–675.Google Scholar
VANDER WALL, S. B., KUHN, K. M. & BECK, M. J. 2005. Seed removal, seed predation, and secondary dispersal. Ecology 86:801–806.Google Scholar
VILA, M. & D'ANTONIO, C. M. 1998. Fruit choice and seed dispersal of invasive vs. noninvasive Carpobrotus (Aizoaceae) in coastal California. Ecology 79:1053–1060.Google Scholar
VOIGT, F. A., BLEHER, B., FIETZ, J., GANZHORN, J. U., SCHWAB, D. & BöHNING-GAESE, K. 2004. A comparison of morphological and chemical fruit traits between two sites with different frugivore assemblages. Oecologia 141:94–104.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
WESTCOTT, D. A., BENTRUPPERBAUMER, J., BRADFORD, M. G. & MCKEOWN, A. 2005. Incorporating patterns of disperser behaviour into models of seed dispersal and its effects on estimated dispersal curves. Oecologia 146:57–67.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
WHEELWRIGHT, N. T. 1985. Fruit size, gape width, and the diets of fruit-eating birds. Ecology 66:808–818.Google Scholar
WILLIAMSON, M. 1999. Invasions. Ecography 22:5–12.Google Scholar
WITMER, M. C. & VAN SOEST, P. J. 1998. Contrasting digestive strategies of fruit-eating birds. Functional Ecology 12:728–741.Google Scholar