Phenology and frugivory by birds on Miconia ligustroides (MELASTOMATACEAE) in a fragment of cerrado, southeastern Brazil

N, Allenspach; Telles, Marina; Mm, Dias

doi:10.1590/s1519-69842012000500012

Cited by 8 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 12 publications

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“…Previous studies have found higher diversity of frugivorous birds for Miconia species from forests (Silveira et al , 2013a and references therein) compared with Miconia species from Neotropical savannas (Allenspach and Dias, 2012; Allenspach et al , 2012; Maruyama et al , 2013). Here, we also observed a relatively small number of frugivorous birds dispersing Miconia fruits, suggesting that open environments support a less diverse assemblage of frugivores.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Frugivory and seed dispersal effectiveness in twoMiconia(Melastomataceae) species from ferruginouscampo rupestre

2017

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Seed dispersal effectiveness (SDE) is a useful framework to explore the evolutionary and ecological consequences of seed dispersal to plant fitness. However, SDE is poorly studied in tropical open grasslands. Here, we studied both quantitative and qualitative components of SDE in two species of Miconia (Melastomataceae) from ferruginous campo rupestre, a vegetation highly threatened by mining activities. We determined fruit traits and fruit availability and found that fruits of both species are produced in times of resource scarcity at the study site. Based on the number of visits and the number of fruits removed per visit, we calculated the quantitative component of SDE for both species. Finally, we explored the qualitative component of SDE by means of a controlled experiment that simulated the effects of gut passage on seed germination. Bird species differed strongly in the quantitative component of SDE. Gut passage did not affect germination compared with hand-extracted seeds, except for a minor negative effect on germination time in M. pepericarpa. However, seeds within intact fruits showed lower germination percentages compared with hand-extracted seeds. Our data indicate that Miconia species from ferruginous campo rupestre are visited by a diverse assemblage of generalist birds that differ in quantitative, but not qualitative, seed dispersal effectiveness. We argue that planting Miconia species can overcome seed limitation in degraded areas and thus assist ecological restoration after mining abandonment.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Frugivory and seed dispersal effectiveness in twoMiconia(Melastomataceae) species from ferruginouscampo rupestre

2017

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“…On the other hand, these same species can be an important resource for the frugivorous fauna, since these plants produce a large amount of fruits (Allenspach & Dias ; Allenspach et al . ; Maruyama et al . ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Apomixis does not affect visitation to flowers of Melastomataceae, but pollen sterility does

2015

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Apomixis is an asexual seed reproduction mechanism thorough which embryos are originated from material tissues inside the ovules, without precedent fertilisation. It allows plants to colonise new habitats, even in places where flower visitors are scarce or where plants are isolate. Apomixis seems to be related to pollen sterility and, in species with flowers that offer pollen as a reward for pollinators, the amount or quality of the pollen offered by these species may influence the amount of the visits and specific composition of the visitors. In order to test this hypothesis, we studied breeding systems of 16 species of Melastomataceae and their flower visitors, evaluating composition and abundance of the visits to apomictic and sexual species. Apomictic plants with no viable pollen or with pollen with low viability did not receive visits from pollinators, and consequently probably produce strictly apomictic fruits. On the other hand, apomictic and sexual plants with high pollen viability do receive visits; in this case, apomictic plants may produce fruits and seeds through both sexual and apomictic methods. The species composition of insects visiting Melastomataceae with high pollen viability was similar, regardless of whether the plants were apomictic or not. It seems that pollen viability levels are important to determine visits to the flowers irrespective of breeding system.

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“…Some thraupids are known to disperse the seeds of zoochoric plants between forest fragments and open areas in the Amazon region (Silva, Uhl, & Murray, 1996). Allenspach, Telles, and Dias (2012) observed R. carbo consuming the infructescences of Cecropia and the fruit of Miconia in São Carlos, São Paulo, Brazil, while in Paragominas, Pará, Silva et al (1996) observed this bird feeding on a number of different plants, including Cecropia palmata, which confirms the importance of this bird as a disperser of the seeds of these and other plant genera in the different biomes. In the case of the tyrannids, we found seeds of Lantana camara and Cecropia sp.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bird-plant interactions on the edge of a forest fragment in southwestern Brazilian Amazonia

Alencar¹,

Guilherme²

2020

Acta Sci. Biol. Sci.

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Seed dispersal is one of the principal ecological processes that determine the richness and distribution of plants in tropical forests. Birds play an important role in the zoochoric dispersal of seeds in these forests. The present study investigated the bird-plant interactions involving the ingestion and dispersal of seeds by the birds found in the edge habitat of an isolated forest fragment on the Catuaba Experimental Farm in eastern Acre, in southwestern Brazilian Amazonia. The birds were captured using mist nets, and the seeds were collected from fecal samples obtained during the handling of the animals. These seeds were sorted and identified. The bird and the plant species identified during the study were used to calculate the connectivity and nestedness of the bird-plant interactions. We captured 82 species of birds, with a total sampling effort of 203,180 h.m². Fecal samples obtained from 19 of the bird species contained a total of 2,086 seeds, representing 23 plant species. The interaction network had an intermediate connectance, and significant nestedness. Ramphocelus carbo had the highest importance index and was the bird with the largest number of plant interactions, while Cecropia latiloba was the plant with the highest importance index, followed by Schefflera morototoni. Most of the seed-dispersing birds identified in the present study are generalists found in both the forest core and its edge. The results of the study indicated that the community of generalist-frugivore birds interacts extensively with the plant community of the fragment, providing seed dispersal services that include the deforested areas adjacent to the fragment.

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Phenology and frugivory by birds on Miconia ligustroides (MELASTOMATACEAE) in a fragment of cerrado, southeastern Brazil

Cited by 8 publications

References 12 publications

Frugivory and seed dispersal effectiveness in twoMiconia(Melastomataceae) species from ferruginouscampo rupestre

Frugivory and seed dispersal effectiveness in twoMiconia(Melastomataceae) species from ferruginouscampo rupestre

Apomixis does not affect visitation to flowers of Melastomataceae, but pollen sterility does

Bird-plant interactions on the edge of a forest fragment in southwestern Brazilian Amazonia

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