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Temporal dynamics in the effectiveness of seed dispersal by birds visiting a tropical tree

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 July 2018

Marco A. Pizo Open the ORCID record for Marco A. Pizo [Opens in a new window]  and
Paulo H. S. A. Camargo Open the ORCID record for Paulo H. S. A. Camargo [Opens in a new window]
Marco A. Pizo*
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Institute of Biosciences, Rio Claro, Brazil
Paulo H. S. A. Camargo
Affiliation:
Graduate Program in Ecology and Biodiversity, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Institute of Biosciences, Rio Claro, Brazil
*
*Corresponding author. Email: pizo@rc.unesp.br
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Abstract:

Seed dispersal effectiveness (SDE) is related to the role of seed dispersal agents in realizing the reproductive potential of plants through seed dispersal and subsequent plant recruitment. The SDE of a given seed disperser may vary spatially and temporally, with important implications for our understanding of the mutualistic relationships involving plants and frugivores. Here we observed 22 frugivorous bird species visiting an individual tree (Cabralea canjerana) over a 9-y period in a fragment of Atlantic forest in south-eastern Brazil to document the temporal variation in SDE. The quantitative (that takes into account the frequency of feeding visits to the focal plant and the number of fruits removed per visit) and qualitative (that considers the probability of seed deposition on a suitable site for plant recruitment) components of SDE varied in two and one order of magnitude both among bird species and among years within bird species, respectively. As a result, the SDE of bird species fluctuates over the years, especially for a migratory species that is the main seed disperser of C. canjerana (Chivi vireo Vireo chivi) whose quantitative component (i.e. the product of visit and fruit intake rates) varied from 3.0 to 7.1. This study illustrates the dynamic nature of the seed-dispersal environment to which a plant is subjected to over the course of its life, which has important consequences for the plant's individual fitness.

Keywords

agonistic interactionsAtlantic forestCabralea canjeranaforest fragmentationfrugivoryfruit chemistry
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 34 , Issue 4 , July 2018 , pp. 235 - 242
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

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