the present study was conducted to assess the effect of dung beetles on sheep dung removal and seed dispersal in semi steppe rangelands of shahrekord province with poor condition located in iran. therefore, the large (1 cm2) and small size (1 mm2) meshes were used and filled by sheep dung in six treatments. to evaluate the role of the insects in seeds translocation, three sizes of plastic beads...

The study of seed fate is crucial for understanding fruit–frugivore interactions. One factor that can greatly influence the fate of seeds dispersed through mammal defecation, is the dung that accompanies the seeds. Dung attracts dung beetles and rodents; the former eat and bury dung, the latter feed on seeds. In this study the fate of Micropholis guyanensis subsp. guyanensis seeds surrounded by...

What happens to seeds once they have reached a surface – here referred to as post-dispersal seed fate (cf. Chambers and MacMahon, 1994) – is becoming an increasingly important question. A large body of literature is available evaluating postdispersal seed fate (reviewed in Hulme, 1998, 2002; Crawley, 2000; Moles and Westoby, 2003; see Hulme and Kollmann, Chapter 2, this volume; Vander Wall and ...

Variation among forests in environmental and biotic conditions may strongly influence seed fate with important consequences for the abundance and distribution of plant species. Here we examine the post-dispersal seed removal rates of six pioneer species (Cecropia peltata,Miconia argentea, Luehea seemannii, Trema micrantha, Apeiba aspera and Jacaranda copaia) from the soil surface at five sites ...

Throughout lowland Amazonia, arboreal ants collect seeds of specific plants and cultivate them in nutrient-rich nests, forming diverse yet obligate and species-specific symbioses called Neotropical ant-gardens (AGs). The ants depend on their symbiotic plants for nest stability, and the plants depend on AGs for substrate and nutrients. Although the AGs are limited to specific participants, it is...

Dispersal quality, an important component of seed disperser effectiveness, may strongly affect the rate of plant recruitment. Here we evaluated the quality of Cebus monkey dispersal by comparing the secondary removal fate and germination of fresh and Cebus-ingested seeds of nine tree species on Barro Colorado Island, Panama. Overall, rates of secondary seed removal by vertebrates were low, with...

The relative contributions of primary and secondary seed dispersal to plant demography have received little investigation. Evidence on these seed dispersal types, on seed fate and seedling recruitment of the tropical rain forest tree Dipteryx oleifera, is presented. The study was conducted in a 6.37ha permanent plot where seeds and seedlings were located and tagged for the 2007 cohort. A total ...