Seasonal Variation in the Fate of Seeds under Contrasting Logging Regimes

Seed predators and dispersers may drive the speed and structure of forest regeneration in natural ecosystems. Rodents and ants prey upon and disperse seeds, yet empirical studies on the magnitude of these effects are lacking. Here, we examined the role of ants and rodents on seed predation in 4 plan...

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Main Authors:	Fleury, Marina, Rodrigues, Ricardo R., do Couto, Hilton T. Z., Galetti, Mauro
Format:	Online
Language:	English
Published:	Public Library of Science 2014
Online Access:	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3948680/

id	pubmed-3948680
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	pubmed-39486802014-03-13 Seasonal Variation in the Fate of Seeds under Contrasting Logging Regimes Fleury, Marina Rodrigues, Ricardo R. do Couto, Hilton T. Z. Galetti, Mauro Research Article Seed predators and dispersers may drive the speed and structure of forest regeneration in natural ecosystems. Rodents and ants prey upon and disperse seeds, yet empirical studies on the magnitude of these effects are lacking. Here, we examined the role of ants and rodents on seed predation in 4 plant species in a successional gradient on a tropical rainforest island. We found that (1) seeds are mostly consumed rather than dispersed; (2) rates of seed predation vary by habitat, season, and species; (3) seed size, shape, and hardness do not affect the probability of being depredated. Rodents were responsible for 70% of seed predation and were negligible (0.14%) seed dispersers, whereas ants were responsible for only 2% of seed predation and for no dispersal. We detected seasonal and habitat effects on seed loss, with higher seed predation occurring during the wet season and in old-growth forests. In the absence of predators regulating seed-consumer populations, the densities of these resilient animals explode to the detriment of natural regeneration and may reduce diversity and carrying capacity for consumers and eventually lead to ecological meltdown. Public Library of Science 2014-03-10 /pmc/articles/PMC3948680/ /pubmed/24614500 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0090060 Text en © 2014 Fleury et al http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
repository_type	Open Access Journal
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	US National Center for Biotechnology Information
building	NCBI PubMed
collection	Online Access
language	English
format	Online
author	Fleury, Marina Rodrigues, Ricardo R. do Couto, Hilton T. Z. Galetti, Mauro
spellingShingle	Fleury, Marina Rodrigues, Ricardo R. do Couto, Hilton T. Z. Galetti, Mauro Seasonal Variation in the Fate of Seeds under Contrasting Logging Regimes
author_facet	Fleury, Marina Rodrigues, Ricardo R. do Couto, Hilton T. Z. Galetti, Mauro
author_sort	Fleury, Marina
title	Seasonal Variation in the Fate of Seeds under Contrasting Logging Regimes
title_short	Seasonal Variation in the Fate of Seeds under Contrasting Logging Regimes
title_full	Seasonal Variation in the Fate of Seeds under Contrasting Logging Regimes
title_fullStr	Seasonal Variation in the Fate of Seeds under Contrasting Logging Regimes
title_full_unstemmed	Seasonal Variation in the Fate of Seeds under Contrasting Logging Regimes
title_sort	seasonal variation in the fate of seeds under contrasting logging regimes
description	Seed predators and dispersers may drive the speed and structure of forest regeneration in natural ecosystems. Rodents and ants prey upon and disperse seeds, yet empirical studies on the magnitude of these effects are lacking. Here, we examined the role of ants and rodents on seed predation in 4 plant species in a successional gradient on a tropical rainforest island. We found that (1) seeds are mostly consumed rather than dispersed; (2) rates of seed predation vary by habitat, season, and species; (3) seed size, shape, and hardness do not affect the probability of being depredated. Rodents were responsible for 70% of seed predation and were negligible (0.14%) seed dispersers, whereas ants were responsible for only 2% of seed predation and for no dispersal. We detected seasonal and habitat effects on seed loss, with higher seed predation occurring during the wet season and in old-growth forests. In the absence of predators regulating seed-consumer populations, the densities of these resilient animals explode to the detriment of natural regeneration and may reduce diversity and carrying capacity for consumers and eventually lead to ecological meltdown.
publisher	Public Library of Science
publishDate	2014
url	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3948680/
_version_	1612066144604127232

Seasonal Variation in the Fate of Seeds under Contrasting Logging Regimes

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