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Spatial patterns of primary seed dispersal and adult tree distributions: Genipa americana dispersed by Cebus capucinus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 August 2015

Kim Valenta ,
Mariah E. Hopkins ,
Melanie Meeking ,
Colin A. Chapman  and
Linda M. Fedigan
Kim Valenta*
Affiliation:
University of Toronto, Department of Anthropology, 19 Russell Street, Toronto, ON, M5Y 2S2, Canada
Mariah E. Hopkins
Affiliation:
University of Texas at Austin, Department of Anthropology, 1 University Station, C3200, Austin, TX 78712, USA
Melanie Meeking
Affiliation:
University of Calgary, Department of Anthropology, 2500 University Dr. N.W. Calgary, AB, T2N 1N4, Canada
Colin A. Chapman
Affiliation:
McGill University, Anthropology and School of the Environment, Montreal, QC, H3A 2T7, Canada Wildlife Conservation Society, Bronx, New York, USA
Linda M. Fedigan
Affiliation:
University of Calgary, Department of Anthropology, 2500 University Dr. N.W. Calgary, AB, T2N 1N4, Canada
*
1 Corresponding author. Current address: McGill University, Anthropology Montreal, H3A 2T7, Canada. Email: kim.valenta@mail.mcgill.ca
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Abstract:

The spatial distribution of adult trees is typically not expected to reflect the spatial patterns of primary seed dispersal, due to many factors influencing post-dispersal modification of the seed shadow, such as seed predation, secondary seed dispersal and density-dependent survival. Here, we test the hypothesis that spatial distributions of primary seed shadows and adult trees are concordant by analysing the spatial distributions of adult Genipa americana trees and the seed shadow produced by its key primary disperser, the capuchin monkey (Cebus capucinus) in a tropical dry forest in Costa Rica. We mapped the dispersal of G. americana seeds by the capuchins during focal animal follows (mean = 463 min, n = 50) of all adults in one free-ranging group over two early wet seasons (May–July, 2005 and 2006). We mapped the locations of all G. americana trees within a 60-ha plot that lay within the home range of the capuchin group. We conducted multiple spatial point pattern analyses comparing degrees of clustering of capuchin defecations and G. americana trees. We found that adult tree distributions and primary dispersal patterns are similarly aggregated at multiple spatial scales, despite the modification of the primary dispersal patterns and long dispersal distances.

Keywords

aggregationclumped distributionCosta Ricapost dispersal mortalitysecondary dispersalseed dispersal
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 31 , Issue 6 , November 2015 , pp. 491 - 498
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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