Evolution of seed dispersal in the Cerrado biome: ecological and phylogenetic considerations

Abstract

Th e investigation of the phylogeny of a group of organisms has the potential to identify ecological and evolutionary processes that have been occurring within a community. Seed dispersal is a key process in the life cycle of vegetation and refl ects diff erent reproductive strategies of plants to a set of ecological and evolutionary factors. Knowing the dispersal syndromes and fruits types of a plant community may help elucidate plant-animal interactions and colonization strategies of plants. We investigated dispersal syndromes and fruit types in Cerrado formations as a parameter for understanding the evolution of angiosperm reproductive strategies in this mega-diverse tropical biome. To do this we identifi ed and mapped the distribution of diff erent parameters associated with seed dispersal on a phylogeny of Cerrado angiosperms genera and tested the presence of phylogenetic signal. Th e results showed that there were strong relationships between fruit types, seed dispersal strategies and vegetation life forms and that these traits were closely related to angiosperms phylogeny and, together, contribute to the evolution of plants in the forest, savanna and grassland formations of the Cerrado biome.

Fruits and frugivores of the Brazilian Cerrado: ecological and phylogenetic considerations

“…Analyses of the zoochorous syndromes in this study (ornithochory, mastochory, chiropterochory, myrmecochory and "mixed") found that they had low phylogenetic signal at the genus level, indicating that genetically closely related zoochorous fruits are likely to be very different morphologically. This contrasts with the recent findings of Kuhlmann & Ribeiro (2016), which showed that the main syndromes (zoochory, anemochory and autochory) had high phylogenetic signal in the Cerrado. It appears that the evolution of exclusively animal seed dispersal in tropical environments is phylogenetically flexible, such that plant-frugivore interactions can be very generalized, yet responding to a set of selective pressures of the environment, such as availability of dispersal agents (different groups of frugivores) and changes in vegetation structure (Fleming & Kress 2013).…”

“…S2 in supplementary material) were found in the study area. These plant taxa represent almost 25% of the species, 65% of the genera and 91% of the families of zoochoric plants of the entire Cerrado biome (Kuhlmann & Ribeiro 2016). Fruit-eating birds and mammals represent almost half of the bird and mammal species of the Federal District (258/600), and also almost half of the bird and mammal species of the entire biome (540/1050).…”

“…It is estimated that between 4,000 species and 400 genera of Cerrado angiosperms produce fruit that are attractive to wildlife (Kuhlmann & Ribeiro 2016), especially birds, while about half of the vertebrate species of the biome (birds, non-flying mammals and bats) feed predominantly or partially on fruit. We found that most of the species of fruits and frugivores occurred in forest formations (~80%) and were associated mostly with woody plants (66%), with the exception being fruits related to myrmecochory, which were associated more with grassland and herbaceous plants.…”

“…The natural world would be drastically affected by the absence of dispersing animals (Bello et al 2015) and, depending on the vegetation type, natural regeneration cycles of most plants would be compromised (Janzen 1974;Howe et al 1985), leading to local extinctions (Jordano et al 2011). For the Brazilian Cerrado, a complex and megadiverse Neotropical biome with over 12,000 species of vascular plants (Ratter et al 1997;Mendonça et al 2008), it is estimated that about one third of all species, and 60%-70% of woody plant species, depend on animals for seed dispersal, and especially so for those of forest formations (Batalha & Martins 2004;Gottsberger & Silberbauer-Gottsberger 2006;Kuhlmann & Ribeiro 2016). Human occupation and land use in the Cerrado have led to the loss of more than 50% of the original vegetation of the biome (Ratter et al 1997;Sano et al 2008), bringing consequences such as soil degradation, increase in invasive species and disruption of water cycles (Klink & Machado 2005;Costa & Pires 2010).…”

Assessing the conservation value of secondary savanna for large mammals in the Brazilian Cerrado

“…). (2) Occupancy would be lower in secondary savanna for species that have fruits as an important part of the diet (such as Azara's agouti Dasyprocta azarae , white‐lipped peccary Tayassu pecari , and lowland tapir Tapirus terrestris ), due to a decrease in zoochoric trees and shrubs (Kuhlmann & Ribeiro ) and because larger (thus, older) plants generally produce more seeds and fruits (Chapman et al . , Greene & Johnson , Zardo & Henriques ).…”