Potential bird dispersers of Psychotria in a area of Atlantic forest on Ilha Grande, RJ, Southeastern Brazil: a biochemical analysis of the fruits

Abstract

ABSTRACTthe present study assessed the fruiting pattern, bird foraging behavior, and sugar content of ripe fruits of two sympatric species of rubiaceae (Psychotria brasiliensis and P. nuda). this study was carried out in an Atlantic forest area on ilha Grande, rJ, between August 1998 and July 1999. fruit production occurred year round, with a peak of mature P. brasiliensis fruits in december 1998 and another of P. nuda in february of 1999. Lipaugus lanioides (cotingidae), Baryphtengus ruficapillus (momotidae) and Saltator similis (emberizidae) made the most frequent foraging visits to fruiting P. brasiliensis, so that L. lanioides and B. ruficapillus removed the fruits with sallying maneuvers while S. similis gleaned the fruits. Lipaugus lanioides was by far the most important consumer, and potentially the main disperser of P. brasiliensis. birds of this genus are heavy frugivores in the tropical forests and are widely assumed to be important seed dispersers. the fruits were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively in relation to the amounts of sucrose and starch. Psychotria brasiliensis (the visited species) showed the smallest quantity of sucrose and the highest amount of starch. these findings suggest that what may influence the birds' choice of fruit is the proportion of starch in the Psychotria species studied here rather than the carbohydrate composition.Keywords: Psychotria, fruits, biochemical analysis. RESUMO Aves potenciais dispersoras de

Habitat structure and food resources for wildlife across successional stages in a tropical forest

“…Despite the presence of alkaloids (Pasquali et al, 2006), the fruits of Psychotria species are consumed by various animal species (e.g. Almeida et al, 2006;Lessa and Costa, 2010;Poulin et al, 1999;Richard and Rada, 2006). On the other hand, we found a higher number of fruiting individuals of the understorey palm Geonoma pohliana in the older-growth forests, which agrees with the increased palm abundance usually found in old-growth neotropical forests (DeWalt et al, 2003;Guariguata et al, 1997).…”

Sucesso reprodutivo de espécies distílicas de psychotria (rubiaceae) em sub-bosque de floresta atlântica

“…Nesse estrato florestal exercem importante papel ecológico, incluindo o fornecimento de recursos florais aos polinizadores -abelhas (RAMOS; SANTOS, 2006;LOPES;BUZATO, 2007), borboletas (LOPES e BUZATO, 2007) e beija-flores (CASTRO; ARAUJO, 2004;COELHO;BARBOSA, 2004;LOPES;BUZATO, 2007) -e de frutos aos dispersores como pássaros (ALMEIDA et al, 2006).…”

Matayba guianensis (Sapindaceae): frugivoria por aves em remanescente de cerrado do Centro-Oeste brasileiro

“…No Brasil, estudos sobre frugivoria por aves têm sido realizados sobretudo na Mata Atlântica da Região Sudeste (e.g., Gondim 2001;Cazetta et al 2002;Guerra & Marini 2002;Melo et al 2003;Gridi-Papp et al 2004;Almeida et al 2006;Cazetta & Galetti 2007;Pascotto 2007). Estudos em outras Regiões são escassos; podemos citar, por exemplo, trabalhos em campos rupestres da Bahia (Faustino & Machado 2006;Bastos & Machado 2007) e em florestas decíduas do Rio Grande do Sul (Krügel et al 2006) e do Mato Grosso do Sul (Ragusa-Netto 2002).…”