Seed ingestion and germination in rattlesnakes: overlooked agents of rescue and secondary dispersal.

ABSTRACT: Seed dispersal is a key evolutionary process and a central theme in the population ecology of terrestrial plants. The primary producers of most land-based ecosystems are propagated by and maintained through various mechanisms of seed dispersal that involve both abiotic and biotic modes of transportation. By far the most common biotic seed transport mechanism is zoochory, whereby seeds, or fruits containing them, are dispersed through the activities of animals. Rodents are one group of mammals that commonly prey on seeds (granivores) and play a critical, often destructive, role in primary dispersal and the dynamics of plant communities. In North America, geomyid, heteromyid and some sciurid rodents have specialized cheek pouches for transporting seeds from plant source to larder, where they

SUBMITTER: Reiserer RS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5829210 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature