Secondary dispersal of forest herb seeds from raccoon dung: contrasting service by multiple vectors

Niederhauser, Eric C.; Matlack, Glenn R.

doi:10.1007/s11258-017-0748-4

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 60 publications

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“…In our study area, another likely seed disperser is the raccoon ( Procyon lotor ). Raccoons feed on fruits of native vegetation in northern Indiana ( Lehman, 1977 ) and are known to defecate germinable seeds ( Willson, 1993 ; Niederhauser, 2015 ). Neither of these likely frugivores would aid in long distance dispersal.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interactions between developmental phenology, carbon movement, and storage constrain demography in the understory clonal herb Podophyllum peltatum L.

Watson,

Vuorisalo

2024

Front. Plant Sci.

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Little is known about how carbon integration and storage dynamics affect and are affected by demography in field populations. We sought to elucidate this link by examining dynamic patterns of carbon integration relative to the timing of demographically significant developmental decisions regarding shoot type determination in mayapple, Podophyllum peltatum, a clonal plant with large and persistent rhizomes. Individual rhizome systems growing in natural populations were fed 14CO2 either in late-April, early-May, or mid-June, then harvested at intervals throughout the current season and into the next. When distribution of label was examined we found that carbon fixed at different times in the growing season is used differently: April-fixed assimilate remained in the labeled shoot or was moved into the old rhizome, May-fixed assimilate was found predominantly in the old rhizome, while early-June fixed assimilate moved into the old rhizome and the extending new ramet. Movement of assimilate into the old rhizome appeared to have precedence over formation of additional new ramets. Despite significant within season changes in location of dominant sinks within rhizome systems, there was little redistribution of labeled assimilate: early fixed assimilate was not used to fuel later within season growth, however, assimilate was redistributed between seasons. Vegetative and sexual systems differed in the distribution only of April-fixed assimilate. This was observed even though early labeling occurred prior to anthesis. Sexual systems retained a greater proportion of assimilate in the stem than did vegetative ones, which exported more to the old rhizome. 14C-distribution patterns did not vary between systems differing in future demographic status suggesting that the developmental decision regarding shoot type is based on resources acquired in prior years. We explore the hypothesis that preformation and storage are functionally linked traits that permit plants to coordinate the developmental determination of structures differing in cost and demographic function with known resource status. We conclude that demography influences and is influenced by integrative physiology and that physiological restrictions on within season redistribution of assimilates constrain plants’ capacities to respond to short-term environmental variation. Such constraints may affect plants’ abilities to respond to rapid environmental change in the Anthropocene.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interactions between developmental phenology, carbon movement, and storage constrain demography in the understory clonal herb Podophyllum peltatum L.

Watson,

Vuorisalo

2024

Front. Plant Sci.

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“…In North America, the deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus) is a scatterhoarding rodent that has been documented to consume and disperse seeds found in black bear scats (Enders and Vander Wall 2012). There are multiple species of Peromycus (maniculatus, boylii, truei, californicus, leucopus) that have been documented to scatter hoard seeds (Borchert 2004, Pearson and Theimer 2004, Beck and Vander Wall 2010, Enders and Vander Wall 2012, Niederhauser and Matlack 2017, making the behavior widespread. In Southeast Alaska, the range of the deer mouse (P. maniculatus) transitions into the range of the closely related northwestern deer mouse (Peromyscus keeni; Hogan et al 1997, Lucid andCook 2007), which we presume is an ecologically equivalent scatterhoarder.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Salmon‐supported bears, seed dispersal, and extensive resource subsidies to granivores

2018

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In salmon‐rich environments, which once spanned much of the Northern Hemisphere, bears occur at exceptionally high densities. Salmon, by growing bear populations, have the potential to exert wide‐ranging effects on ecosystem processes. Salmon‐supported bears provide seed dispersal services to plants, and bear scats containing thousands of seeds may then be efficient nutritional resources for granivorous small mammals that also function as secondary seed dispersers while hoarding seeds for winter. We taxonomically identified and enumerated seeds in individual bear scats to characterize patterns of bear frugivory. We then combined estimates of seed abundance and digestible energy content to quantify the energy available to granivorous small mammals, and we quantified the proportion of the mouse population that could be supported by locally abundant bear populations in lowland salmon systems. We additionally monitored seed‐filled bear scats with remote cameras to quantify small mammal visitation rates, and live‐trapped small mammals seasonally to determine whether rodents visited bear scats proportional to their densities or whether some species preferentially selected for bear scats, and to assess whether seasonal variation in scat visitation was driven by density or selection. Bears were an important initial dispersal agent for 12 species of fruit, particularly devil's club (Oplopanax horridus) and blueberry (Vaccinium spp.), which occurred in 80% (5839 seeds/scat) and 50% (10,719 seeds/scat) of scats, respectively. Seeds in bear scats were intensively utilized and dispersed by small mammals, primarily scatter‐hoarding northwestern deer mice (Peromyscus keeni; 8.5 visits per day/4295 total visits) and larder‐hoarding northern red‐backed voles (Myodes rutilus; 2.2 visits per day/1099 total visits), with visitation rates proportional to the seasonal density of each species. Small mammals likely incurred significant nutritional benefits from seeds deposited in bear scats (kcal/scat, mean = 114, n = 71). In coastal Alaska riparian areas, bears are potentially capable of indirectly subsidizing the energy needs of 45–65% of local deer mouse populations. Thus, this work helps elucidate the role that salmon, by supporting abundant bears, plays in ecological communities via influencing seed dispersal and resource subsidies to the small mammals that compose the base of the food web.

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Synzoochory: the ecological and evolutionary relevance of a dual interaction

2018

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Synzoochory is the dispersal of seeds by seed-caching animals. The animal partner in this interaction plays a dual role, acting both as seed disperser and seed predator. We propose that this duality gives to synzoochory two distinctive features that have crucial ecological and evolutionary consequences. First, because plants attract animals that have not only positive (seed dispersal) but also negative (seed predation) impacts on their fitness, the evolution of adaptations to synzoochory is strongly constrained. Consequently, it is not easy to identify traits that define a synzoochorous dispersal syndrome. The absence of clear adaptations entails the extra difficulty of identifying synzoochorous plants by relying on dispersal traits, limiting our ability to explore the full geographic, taxonomic and phylogenetic extent of synzoochory. Second, the positive and negative outcomes of interactions with synzoochorous animals are expressed simultaneously. Consequently, synzoochorous interactions are not exclusively mutualistic or antagonistic, but are located at some point along a mutualism-antagonism continuum. What makes synzoochory interesting and unique is that the position of each partner along the continuum can be evaluated for every plant-animal interaction, and thus the continuum can be precisely described by assessing the relative frequency of positive and negative interaction events in each pairwise interaction. Herein we explore these two main features of synzoochory with a comprehensive quantitative survey of published studies on synzoochory. Synzoochory has been recorded for at least 1339 plant species differing in life forms, from annual and short-lived herbs to long-lived trees, belonging to 641 genera and 157 families widely distributed across the globe and across the seed plant phylogeny. Over 30 animal families belonging to five disparate taxonomic groups (rodents, marsupials, birds, insects, and land crabs) potentially act as synzoochorous dispersers. Although synzoochory appears to be fundamentally a secondary dispersal mode, many abundant and dominant trees are primarily synzoochorous. In addition, we found evidence of the existence of diplosynzoochory (caching animals acting both as primary and secondary dispersers of the same individual seed), mostly in nut-bearing trees. Finally, we found that synzoochorous interactions are widely spread across the mutualism-antagonism continuum. Nevertheless, there were some differences among disperser species and functional groups. Corvids and some rodents (cricetids, nesomyids, sciurids) were located in the positive-effects region of the continuum and presumably behave mostly as dispersers, whereas land crabs and insects were located in the negative-effects extreme and behave mostly as seed predators. Our review demonstrates that synzoochory is not an anecdotal ecological interaction. Rather, it is pivotal to the functioning of many ecosystems where the natural regeneration of keystone plant species depends on the activity of granivorous animals that play a du...

show abstract

Secondary dispersal of forest herb seeds from raccoon dung: contrasting service by multiple vectors

Cited by 3 publications

References 60 publications

Interactions between developmental phenology, carbon movement, and storage constrain demography in the understory clonal herb Podophyllum peltatum L.

Interactions between developmental phenology, carbon movement, and storage constrain demography in the understory clonal herb Podophyllum peltatum L.

Salmon‐supported bears, seed dispersal, and extensive resource subsidies to granivores

Synzoochory: the ecological and evolutionary relevance of a dual interaction

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