Seed Size, Not Dispersal Syndrome, Determines Potential for Spread of Ricefield Weeds by Gulls.

ABSTRACT: Recent field data suggest that migratory gulls disperse many rice field weeds by gut passage (endozoochory), most of which are dry fruited and widely assumed to have no long-distance dispersal mechanisms, except via human activity. We investigated this mechanism with a feeding experiment, in which seeds of five common rice field weeds (in order of increasing seed size: Juncus bufonius, Cyperus difformis, Polypogon monspeliensis, Amaranthus retroflexus, and the fleshy-fruited Solanum nigrum) were fed to seven individuals of lesser black-backed gulls Larus fuscus held in captivity. We quantified seed survival after collecting faeces at intervals for 33 h after ingestion, then extracting intact seeds and running germination tests, which were also cond

SUBMITTER: Peralta-Sanchez JM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10096937 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature