Secondary seed dispersal by dung beetles in a Colombian rain forest: effects of dung type and defecation pattern on seed fate

Abstract

2010). Secondary seed dispersal by dung beetles in a Colombian rain forest: effects of dung type and defecation pattern on seed fate. Abstract:In rain forests the fate of seeds defecated by mammals is often affected by dung beetles, but these effects can vary with mammal species. In a Colombian forest, differences in Scarabaeinae assemblages attracted to spider monkey (Ateles hybridus) and howler monkey (Alouatta seniculus) defecations were assessed. In total, 791 beetles of 35 species were captured. Mean number of individuals was similar for both dung types; mean number of species was higher for Alouatta traps. The effects of dung type (Alouatta vs. Ateles) and defecation pattern (clumped vs. scattered) on the fate of 220 Rollinia edulis (Annonaceae) seeds were determined. Burial by beetles occurred for 61% of the seeds (mean depth 2.6 cm). Seeds in Alouatta dung and in clumped defecations had higher burial rates. Horizontal movement (mean 11 cm) occurred for 80% of the seeds; no significant effects of experimental factors were detected. Survival was higher for buried vs. surface seeds. In a separate experiment, no differences were detected between dung types in the proportion of seeds buried by beetles. Changes in dung texture might have been responsible for the contrasting results. When assessing the effectiveness of an endozoochorous plant-mammal interaction, secondary dispersal by dung beetles should be addressed too.

The value of trophic interactions for ecosystem function: dung beetle communities influence seed burial and seedling recruitment in tropical forests

“…Secondary dispersal by dung beetles has been demonstrated on a number of occasions to be beneficial to buried seeds [27,28,50]. However, contrary to our predictions, we show that functional richness, species richness and total biomass of beetle communities are negatively correlated to the emergence success of seedlings, suggesting that dung beetle activity may be detrimental for some species.…”

Persistence of the effect of frugivore identity on post‐dispersal seed fate: consequences for the assessment of functional redundancy

“…, Santos‐Heredia et al . ). Small seeds are more likely to be incorporated in dung balls and buried (Andresen & Levey ).…”

“…), only a few take into account the secondary dispersal phase into the calculation (Martins , Santos‐Heredia et al . ). Recently, Culot et al .…”

Dung Beetle Community and Functions along a Habitat-Disturbance Gradient in the Amazon: A Rapid Assessment of Ecological Functions Associated to Biodiversity

“…The former metric of species richness is the one that is usually reported in community studies and, consequently, the one that is usually associated with ecological function. However, we believe that, for dung beetles, the second metric is more useful for the purpose of relating richness to function, because the functions occur at the level of individual defecations [26], [56]. For future studies designed to correlate number of species with the amount of any ecological function, we suggest using species density measured at the same spatial and temporal scales used to measure the function.…”