Abstract
Tree seeds that drop down to the rainforest floor, either naked or embedded in fruit pulp, often disappear after a while. Many authors refer to this phenomenon as seed predation, implicitly assuming that the seed is destroyed by seedeaters such as rodents or ungulates (Forget et al. 1998). However, not all seed removal is by seedeaters. Many species of animals remove seeds while feeding on what is around seeds rather than on the seeds themselves. Terrestrial birds, mammals and reptiles ingest seeds while feeding on fallen fruit (e.g. Fragoso 1997, Érard & Sabatier 1988), tortoises ingest seeds while feeding on dung of frugivorous mammals (B. Josseaume unpublished data.), and dung beetles take and bury seeds with dung (Shephard & Chapman 1998, Andresen 1999, Feer 1999). All these animals may bring viable seeds into favourable conditions.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2001 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Jansen, P.A., Forget, PM. (2001). Scatterhoarding Rodents and Tree Regeneration. In: Bongers, F., Charles-Dominique, P., Forget, PM., Théry, M. (eds) Nouragues. Monographiae Biologicae, vol 80. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9821-7_26
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9821-7_26
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-90-481-5869-0
Online ISBN: 978-94-015-9821-7
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive