The comparative effectiveness of rodents and dung beetles as local seed dispersers in Mediterranean oak forests.

ABSTRACT: The process of seed dispersal of many animal-dispersed plants is frequently mediated by a small set of biotic agents. However, the contribution that each of these dispersers makes to the overall recruitment may differ largely, with important ecological and management implications for the population viability and dynamics of the species implied in these interactions. In this paper, we compared the relative contribution of two local guilds of scatter-hoarding animals with contrasting metabolic requirements and foraging behaviours (rodents and dung beetles) to the overall recruitment of two Quercus species co-occurring in the forests of southern Spain. For this purpose, we considered not only the quantity of dispersed seeds but also the quality of the seed dispersal process. The suitability f

SUBMITTER: Perez-Ramos IM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3806725 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature