Seed fate and seedling recruitment in monkey latrines in rustic cocoa plantations and rain forest in southern Mexico

Abstract

Primates are important seed dispersers in natural ecosystems and agro-ecosystems, but the latter scenario remains under-studied. The degree to which primates favour plant regeneration greatly depends on post-dispersal processes. The main objective of this study was to compare patterns of seed/seedling fate and seedling recruitment in two habitats of the black howler monkey (Alouatta pigra Lawrence 1933), rustic cocoa and rain forest, and two types of seed-deposition locations, monkey latrines and control locations. Field experiments were carried out within the non-overlapping home ranges of six monkey groups, three in cocoa and three in forest. Seed and seedling fates were assessed for one focal tree species, Brosimum lactescens. The probabilities of seed survival (0.52), germination (0.72), seedling establishment (0.73) and early seedling survival (0.38) were not affected by habitat or seed-deposition location. Late seedling survival was similar in the two habitats but was higher in control locations (0.22) than in latrines (0.09). In cocoa, 4641 seedlings of 59 species were recorded, in forest 3280 seedlings of 68 species. Seedling recruitment was similar in both habitats, but latrines had higher densities than control locations. The importance of agro-ecosystems with low management intensity for the maintenance of ecological processes in anthropogenic landscapes is discussed.

Effects of dung beetle activity on tropical forest plants

“…Aside from the vertical and horizontal movement of seeds by dung beetles, other more subtle changes in seed location and/or condition could also affect seed fate (Braga et al, 2017). For example, seeds are often moved by beetles from an exposed location on the soil, to a location under the leaf litter (e.g., Zárate et al, 2019), particularly when moved by rollers. In other cases, although seeds are not buried by beetles, they nonetheless end up covered by the soil that beetles excavate when building underground tunnels and chambers for dung burial (Braga et al, 2017).…”

Why Care: Complex Evolutionary History of Human Healthcare Networks

“…Interesting comparisons in non-nest living species also include the evolution of latrine behaviors, in which animals defecate in restricted areas. There are extensive literatures on animal latrines focusing on intraspecific studies of the communicative functions (e.g., Irwin et al, 2004;Barja and List, 2006;Wronski et al, 2006;Jordan et al, 2007;Ruibal et al, 2010;Droescher and Kappeler, 2014;Rodgers et al, 2015;Barocas et al, 2016;Eppley et al, 2016;King et al, 2017) and seed dispersal (Feeley, 2005;Pouvelle et al, 2009;Dos Santos Neves et al, 2010;Gonzalez-Zamora et al, 2012;Zarate et al, 2019), but the distribution of defecation behaviors across species, their implications for concentrations of pathogens across the landscape (Nunn and Dokey, 2006;Nunn et al, 2011Nunn et al, , 2014Numberger et al, 2019), and how this may drive the evolution of latrine behaviors is not fully understood.…”

Dispersion of seeds at night and day in sub-Andean forests, Cueva Los Guacharos Park, Colombia

“…and their ability to ingest large seeds, primates are also considered efficient seed dispersers (Chapman & Dunham, 2018;Stevenson et al, 2005). Additionally, they disperse high amounts of seeds over long distances, are effective seed dispersers, and their seed dispersal pattern shows a high correlation with seedling recruitment (Gelmi-Candusso et al, 2019;Stevenson et al, 2002;Zárate et al, 2019).…”