Gastropod seed dispersal: an invasive slug destroys far more seeds in its gut than native gastropods.

ABSTRACT: Seed dispersal is one of the most important mechanisms shaping biodiversity, and animals are one of the key dispersal vectors. Animal seed dispersal can directly or indirectly be altered by invasive organisms through the establishment of new or the disruption of existing seed dispersal interactions. So far it is known for a few gastropod species that they ingest and defecate viable plant seeds and consequently act as seed dispersers, referred to as gastropodochory. In a multi-species experiment, consisting of five different plant species and four different gastropod species, we tested with a fully crossed design whether gastropodochory is a general mechanism across native gastropod species, and whether it is altered by the invasive alien slug species Arion lusitanicus. Specifically, we hyp

SUBMITTER: Blattmann T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3783466 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature