期刊
JOURNAL OF TROPICAL ECOLOGY
卷 26, 期 -, 页码 227-236出版社
CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1017/S0266467409990447
关键词
Amazona finschi; Chamela-Cuixmala; fruit crop size; granivory; Mexico; plant-animal interaction; post-dispersal seed predation; Psittacidae; resource patch; semi-deciduous forest
类别
资金
- Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologia
- Secretaria del Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales
Parrots represents a large biomass of canopy granivores in tropical forests, and may be effective pre-dispersal seed predators. We evaluated the importance of the lilac-crowned parrot (Amazona finschi) as a pre-dispersal seed predator of Astronium graveolens (Anacardiaceae) in tropical dry forest. Seeds were collected in fruit-traps beneath 22 trees to compare pre-dispersal seed predation by parrots and insects, and determine whether intensity of seed predation was related to fruit-crop size or the aggregation of fruiting conspecifics around focal trees. Ground-level exclosures were established to compare post-dispersal seed predation by vertebrates and insects. The lilac-crowned parrot predated 43% of seeds pre-dispersal, while insects predated only 1.3%. Intensity or pre-dispersal seed predation by parrots was significantly greater in high-fruiting 0.79-ha resource patches, and was not related to fruit abundance of the focal tree. Foraging parrots also discarded immature fruits below the tree, causing a total 56% pre-dispersal loss of seed production, which was greater than post-dispersal removal by vertebrates, mainly rodents (51%) or insects (36%). Our results show that parrots play an important role as pre-dispersal seed predators in tropical dry forests. The reduction of parrot populations in tropical forests may have consequences for seed predation, affecting recruitment patterns of canopy trees.
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