Frugivorous birds play an important role in parasitic mistletoe transmission among host species. The foraging behaviour and host selection of Psittacanthus schiedeanus mistletoe fruit-eating birds was studied in cloud forest remnants in Central Veracruz, México. Cedar waxwings, Bombycilla cedrorum, gray silky-flycatchers, Ptilogonys cinereus, and social flycatchers, Myiozetetes similis, eating ripe whole mistletoe fruits and defecating or regurgitating the seeds were observed. That variation in host species selection by frugivorous birds had a direct effect on mistletoe dispersion was hypothesized. To test whether mistletoe host species are visited in proportion to their abundance (total number of trees), or infested-tree abundance (total number of infested trees), or abundance of mistletoes (total number of individual mistletoe plants in each host species), the number of trees, infested trees and individual mistletoe plants were recorded. Tree abundance, infested-tree abundance and mistletoe abundance were different among host species. Frequency of birds' visits to host species varied depending on the tree, infested-tree, or mistletoe abundance. Liquidambar styraciflua was the most abundant host species with the highest number of infested trees and individual mistletoe plants, but Persea americana and Crataegus mexicana host species had the highest number of individual mistletoe plants in each tree. Our data suggest that L. styraciflua was the most selected host species by the three frugivorous birds. Host selection by birds is one behavioural factor in explaining differences in prevalence among host species, and variation in infection levels among individuals of one host species.

RESUMEN. Las aves frugívoras juegan un importante papel en la transmisión de muérdagos parásitos hacia sus árboles hospederos. La conducta de forrajeo y selección de hospedero de aves consumidoras de frutos del muérdago Psittacanthus schiedeanus fueron estudiados en remanentes de bosque mesófilo de montaña del Centro de Veracruz, México. Bombycilla cedrorum, Ptilogonys cinereus and Myiozetetes similis fueron observados consumiendo frutos maduros enteros y defecando o regurgitando las semillas. Hipotetizamos que la variación en la selección de la especie hospedera por las aves frugívoras tiene un efecto directo en la dispersión del muérdago. Para probar si las especies de árboles hospederos son visitadas en proporción a su abundancia (número total de árboles), o la abundancia de hospederos infectados (número de árboles infectados) o la abundancia de muérdagos (número total de plantas individuales de muérdago en una sola especie de árbol); el número de árboles, árboles infestados y plantas de muérdago fueron registradas. La abundancia de árboles, de árboles infestados y de plantas de muérdago fue diferente entre las especies de árboles estudiadas. La frecuencia de visitas de las aves a las especies hospederas varió de acuerdo a la abundancia de árboles, de árboles infestados y de plantas de muérdago. Liquidambar styraciflua fue la especie hospedera más abundante con el mayor número de árboles infestados y abundancia de muérdagos, pero las especies Persea americana y Crataegus mexicana presentaron el mayor número de plantas de múerdago por árbol. Nuestros datos sugieren que L. styraciflua fue la especie hospedera más seleccionada por las aves frugívoras. La selección de hospederos por las aves es uno de los factores conductuales que explican las diferencias en prevalencia entre especies de hospedero, y la variación en los niveles de infestación entre individuos de una de las especies de hospedero.

Leafing, flowering and fruiting of the 24 most representative species of trees and shrubs in Sudanian savannas and fallows near Bondoukuy (Burkina Faso) were studied for 2 y (May 1992 to June 1994). The period of defoliation was generally brief, and leaf flushing, flowering and fruiting occurred mostly in the dry season. The phenological behaviour varied nonetheless across species and individuals. A classification taking into account synchrony/asynchrony and duration in foliation, flowering, fruit ripening and seed dispersal phases allowed comparison of species' phenological plasticity. Species were distributed along a scale of increasing plasticity, from trees to shrubs. Along this scale, species of the Leguminosae appeared to be separated from those of the Combretaceae, the latter being generally considered as characterising fallow farming systems. These results provide new evidence about the effect of phylogenetic constraints on the phenological behaviour of the woody species of the Sudanian savannas.

RÉSUMÉ. La feuillaison, la floraison et la fructification des 24 espèces d'arbres et d'arbustes les plus représentatives des jachères et savanes soudaniennes de la région de Bondoukuy (Burkina Faso), ont été étudiées pendant 2 ans (mai 1992 à juin 1994). La défeuillaison est généralement brève et l'émergence des feuilles, la floraison et la fructification se produisent principalement pendant la saison sèche. Les comportements phénologiques varient cependant entre les individus et entre les espèces. Une classification prenant en compte le degré de synchronisme ainsi que la durée de la feuillaison, de la floraison, de la maturation des fruits et de la dispersion des graines a permis de comparer la plasticité phénologique des espèces. Celles-ci sont distribuées selon un gradient de plasticité croissante des arbres aux arbustes. Sur ce gradient les Légumineuses se dissocient des Combrétacées, espèces qui sont par ailleurs généralement considérées comme caractéristiques des jachères. Ces résultats sont une nouvelle illustration de l'effet des contraintes phylogénétiques sur le comportement phénologique des espèces ligneuses des savanes soudaniennes.

The morphology of Genipa americana seeds and post-seminal development was studied, and its germination response investigated in relation to storage in water, substrate water volume, osmotic potential and temperature and light regimes. The seeds are flattened and seedlings are phaneroepigeal with leafy cotyledons. Seeds stored in water kept viable for up to 6 mo, but germination and seedling emergence were reduced after 4 mo. Germination was not affected under water-logged conditions, but seedling emergence was reduced at the water volume corresponding to a water column two times deeper than the seeds' mean thickness (70 ml). When seeds were osmotically stressed, a reduction in the rate and germination percentage occurred at −0.2 MPa and germination was drastically inhibited at −0.6 MPa. Seeds germinated in a wide range of temperatures (15–40 °C), with optimum at continuous temperatures of 25 and 30 °C. Light was not required for germination, and no dormancy mechanisms were observed. The seed and seedling morphology and the germinative responses of the species may permit its regeneration in periodically flooded lowland forests and riparian habitats and are probably key factors in explaining the species' wide distribution.

ABSTRACT: Throughout the tropics there are a few hundred ant species that nest exclusively inside myrmecophytes (i.e. ant-domatia bearing plants). For these ants, nesting space is an essential resource that must be shared among them, therefore opening the possibility for strong intraspecific and interspecific competition. Several ant–myrmecophyte systems from Central Amazonia were investigated to test the relevance and generality of the nesting space limitation hypothesis for plant-ants. Empirical patterns were drawn at four organizational levels: (a) individual level—ant species with small-bodied queens were the most frequent partners of myrmecophyte species offering small-sized domatia, while ants with large-bodied queens dominated host species with large-sized domatia, suggesting that host choice by inseminated queens and interspecific conflicts over host dominance seem to be influenced by space limitation; (b) colony level—in eight independent ant–myrmecophyte systems, ant colony size was positively correlated to the number of domatia provided by the host, and the mean occupancy level of the domatia by ants was 92%, suggesting that space can be limiting to colony growth; (c) population level—ant colony number and distribution was determined by the local availability and distribution of its plant partners; and (d) community level—across ant-myrmecophyte systems, the commonness of ant species were largely determined by the commonness of their specialized host partners. Within ant-myrmecophyte systems, rarity of ants seems to be defined by interspecific conflicts over host dominance. The ecological and evolutionary consequences of those patterns are discussed.

RESUMO. Nos trópicos existem algumas poucas centenas de espécies de formigas que nidificam exclusivamente dentro de mirmecófitas (i.e. plantas possuidoras de domácias). Para estas formigas, o espaço de nidificação é um recurso essencial que precisa ser dividido entre elas, abrindo assim a possibilidade de competição intraespecífica e interespecífica forte. Diversos sistemas formiga-plantas da Amazônia Central foram investigados para se testar a relevância e generalidade da hipótese da limitação de sítios de nidificação para formigas associadas às mirmecófitas. Padrões empíricos foram gerados a quatro níveis organizacionais: (a) nível individual—espécies de formigas com rainhas de tamanho corpóreo reduzido foram os parceiros mais frequentes de espécies de mirmecófitas que oferecem domácias pequenas, enquanto que espécies de rainhas grandes dominam espécies de hospedeiros que oferecem domácias grandes, sugerindo que a escolha de hospedeiros por rainhas inseminadas e conflitos interespecíficos pela dominância do hospedeiro parecem ser influenciados por limitações de espaço; (b) nível da colônia—em oito sistemas formiga-plantas independentes, o tamanho da colônia das formigas foi positivamente correlacionado ao número de domácias oferecido pelo hospedeiro, e o nível médio de ocupação das domácias por formigas foi 92%, sugerindo que espaço pode estar limitando o crescimento das colônias; (c) nível da população—o número e a distribuição das colônias de formigas foi determinado pela disponibilidade local e distribuição dos parceiros vegetais; e (d) nível da comunidade—entre os sistemas formiga-plantas, formigas comuns e raras correspondem a aquelas especializadas respectivamente em espécies de mirmecófitas comuns e raras. Dentro de cada sistema formiga-planta, a raridade das formigas parece ser definida por conflitos interespecíficos sobre a dominância dos hospedeiros. As conseqüências ecológicas e evolutivas destes padrões são discutidas.

The last population of giraffes in west Africa lives in Niger in an unprotected Sahelian region inhabited by farmers and herders. The spatial behaviour of each individual of the population (n = 63) was studied by direct observation during 15 mo. Two-thirds of the population were resident in the tiger bush in the rainy season and in the nearby area of Harikanassou, a sandy agricultural region, in the dry season. Rainy season and dry season home ranges were mutually exclusive and individual home ranges were overlapping when considering one season (rainy season: 84%; dry season: 67%). The mean size of the seasonal home ranges of these resident giraffes during the dry season (90.7 km2) was twice the mean size during the rainy season (46.6 km2). A third of the population moved 80 to 200 km in three directions, and two giraffes from an isolated group from Mali moved 300 km along the Niger River. Long distance movements of such length have never been reported before, and several explanations are proposed: previous distribution, social transmission, hydrographic network and food availability, poaching events. The giraffes in Niger do not avoid rural communities; indeed, they live in densely populated regions. Furthermore, their movements, synchronized with human activities in these regions, are representative of life conditions in the Sahel.

Traditional shade house experiments that expose plants to relatively uniform irradiance and light quality are inadequate to characterize the morphological, allocational and physiological plasticity that seedlings show to different gap environments. Here the design of a pot experiment is described that simulates the daily time course of irradiance and light quality in idealized gaps of six different sizes. Differences in response to gap size are illustrated using data from two pioneer species, Ochroma pyramidale, which recruits exclusively in large gaps and clearings, and Luehea seemannii, which colonizes small branchfall gaps as well as large gaps. Ochroma outperformed Luehea in relative growth rate in all except the smallest simulated gap size. Ochroma's superior performance in the larger gaps could be attributed to a larger proportional investment in leaf biomass (i.e. a higher leaf area ratio, LAR), and higher photosynthetic rates both on a leaf area and leaf mass basis. In the smallest simulated gaps LAR was not significantly different between the species, but Ochroma maintained a higher net assimilation rate. These results fail to support the suggestion that gap partitioning among pioneer species arises directly from morphological and biochemical specialization to particular gap light environments. Instead, it is suggested that partitioning may result from a trade-off between seedling growth and mortality determined by species allocational patterns and mediated by interactions with herbivores and pathogens.

An evaluation of whether large arborescent palms depend on large treefall gaps for recruitment to the adult stage is reported. Specifically three hypotheses were tested: (1) The light requirement of juveniles of tall arborescent palms increases as they grow in size. (2) Tall arborescent palms depend on gaps over 0.10 ha for growth and survival to maturity, due to high light requirements during the stem height growth phase. (3) Stilt-rooted palms are not dependent on gaps for juvenile height growth. The hypotheses were evaluated using data on size and crown position of individuals of tall arborescent palm species as well as data on the forest-phase in which each individual grew. The study site was a 50-ha plot in old-growth rain forest in Amazonian Ecuador. The first hypothesis was accepted for the two most common species, Iriartea deltoidea and Oenocarpus bataua, but tentatively rejected for the arborescent palm community as a whole. The second hypothesis was rejected for Iriartea and the community as a whole. Only Oenocarpus had strongly gap-dependent recruitment. The results for Iriartea and Oenocarpus were consistent with the third hypothesis.

The effects of tropical forest fragmentation on frugivorous and nectarivorous bats were studied on recent islands created by the flooding of a dam in French Guiana. Study sites include forest islands isolated by water, and control plots in nearby continuous forest. Studies began 1y before the onset of forest fragmentation and encompassed the first 3y after flooding. Forest fragmentation greatly modified the diversity and abundance of bats. Changes occurred more rapidly in the smallest fragments than in the largest one, and trends were remarkably similar among all the studied islands. Bat captures in islands were characterised by the scarcity of understorey frugivores. Differences in home range size and foraging strategies may explain why understorey fruit bat species are more sensitive to fragmentation than canopy ones. Changes in the frugivorous bat community may have indirect consequences on both the demographic and the genetic structures of plant populations inside forest fragments.

The short-nosed fruit bat, Cynopterus sphinx, begins to visit fruit-bearing trees about 30 min after sunset. Individual bats often hover near or land on fruits or on nearby branches to remove whole or parts of fruits with their mouth. These bats seldom remain in the fruit-bearing trees to feed, but instead carry fruits to feeding roosts, repeating this behaviour several times throughout the night. Analysis of the temporal distribution of feeding behaviour has revealed two peaks of activity, one in the pre-midnight hours when bats fed mostly on ‘steady state’ fruits, and another during the post-midnight hours when bats fed on ‘big-bang’ fruits. Only solitary bats visited and fed on species with steady state fruiting phenologies, whereas groups of bats regularly visited and fed on species with big-bang fruiting phenologies. Thus, plant species which produce large numbers of fruits appear to promote group foraging during the latter hours of the night. It is suggested that the temporal use of available fruits in south India made it possible for C. sphinx to successfully exploit them, and thereby reduced interference competition with conspecifics.

Although undisturbed tropical evergreen forests are often thought to be fire- resistant ecosystems due to lack of sufficiently dry fuel loads (Bond & van Wilgen 1996, Kauffman et al. 1988, Uhl et al. 1988), this myth is rapidly collapsing with the proliferation of recent forest fires throughout south-east Asia (Kinnard & O'Brien 1998, Leighton & Wirawan 1986), Central America (Anon. 1998a), and northern South America (Anon. 1998b) following unusually severe seasonal droughts.

Studies of niche overlap within communities of lizards have shown that separation may be along the three major dimensions of space, time and food. Space is usually the most important dimension where a range of habitats are involved; there is less information on the importance of microhabitat separation within a single habitat type. This study investigated microhabitat relationships of small diurnal lizard species occupying granitic rock habitat in Zimbabwe. There was statistically significant niche separation among all species in both the type of rock occupied (size, shape, number of cracks, closeness to other rocks, and vegetation cover) and the position of the lizard in the microhabitat (height on rock, slope angle, and distance to cover). Overlap of microhabitat was lowest between the generalist terrestrial skink Mabuya varia and all other species. The arboreal skink Mabuya striata was found on rocks at one site where the more saxicolous Mabuya quinquetaeniata was absent, due to competitor release. Overlap of microhabitat among rock specialists was lowest between the sit-and-wait foragers Agama kirkii and Platysaurus intermedius, as in other tropical lizard communities. The high degree of microhabitat separation was attributed to the high structural complexity of the granitic rock habitat.

Observed variation in species richness on ecological gradients and between regions has attracted several different explanations. Climatic factors, such as energy availability, precipitation and mean annual temperature, are frequently cited to explain differences in species richness (Wright et al. 1993). The relative amount of variation in these variables may be of importance as well as absolute values (Stevens 1989, 1992). Alternatively, the history of colonization and extirpation have been used to explain regional variation in diversity (Guo et al. 1998; Latham & Ricklefs 1993a, b). Area is an important factor, for example on an elevational gradient the tops of mountains are not only cooler than the bottoms, but they are also much smaller (Rahbek 1997).

Mast-fruiting is the intermittent and synchronous production of large fruits by a population of plants at long intervals (Herrera et al. 1998, Kelly 1994). Several hypotheses have been proposed concerning the adaptive advantages of mast-fruiting (Janzen 1971, 1974; Kelly 1994), and some field observations have provided evidence for these hypotheses (Norton & Kelly 1988, Shibata et al. 1998, Sork 1993). The predator-satiation hypothesis is one well-known explanation for reproductive synchrony in plants and animals (Janzen 1971, 1974; Kelly 1994). This hypothesis claims that mast fruiting at irregular intervals of several years is an effective means of satiating vertebrate fruit predators: low seed production can only support low densities of predators during the periods between mast-fruiting events, but more fruits are produced than predators can consume in masting years (Janzen 1971, Kelly 1994). Thus, it may be said that mast-fruiting is a defence strategy of plants against post-dispersal vertebrate fruit predators.