Seed removal of Araucaria angustifolia by native and invasive mammals in protected areas of Atlantic Forest

Rosa, Clarissa Alves da; Hegel, Carla Grasiele Zanin; Passamani, Marcelo

doi:10.1590/1676-0611-bn-2020-1111

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 51 publications

(69 reference statements)

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“…The removal rate of Paraná pine seeds by animals was high in both experiments and the marking experiment attested that most of the seeds suffered predation after removal, which was probably the same fate of seeds removed in the first experiment. This result can be linked to several factors, such as the attractiveness of large seeds with high energetic value and their maturation in a food scarcity period, serving as a key resource for fauna during Winter (Vieira and Iob 2009;Brocardo et al 2018;Bogoni et al 2020;Rosa et al 2020). The very high seed predation rate that we have recorded, with only 1.1% of the seeds reaching germination, corroborates that the seed survival from predators is a critical stage in the life cycle of the Paraná pine (Paludo et al 2016, Brocardo et al 2018Rosa et al 2020), highlighting the role of dispersal type in the recruiting success.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The seed maturation of the Paraná pine occurs primarily in Austral Autumn and Winter (Mattos 2011) and this species is considered a key species, providing food for the regional fauna (Vieira and Iob 2009;Brum et al 2010;Brocardo et al 2018;Bogoni et al 2020;Rosa et al 2020). It presents large recalcitrant seeds (> 5 g), locally named "pinhão", which need zoochoric dispersal to reach new environments (Soares and Mota 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Does the seed disperser matter? The influence of dispersal type on survival of Araucaria angustifolia seeds

Squinzani

Piana

Brocardo

2021

Preprint

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Zoochoric dispersion is fundamental for the colonization of habitats by plants with large and heavy seeds such as the Paraná pine (Araucaria angustifolia). This is an endangered conifer from South America whose recruitment is heavily impacted by animals, but the way that different zoochoric dispersal modes and deposition sites can affect its successful establishment is not known yet. Thus, in this study, we aimed to evaluate the effect of dispersal mode (accordingly to the seed disperser), distance from adult conspecifics, and disposition site on long-term recruitment success. The experimental design included two environments (forest and open field) and each of them received 30 micro-habitat sampling stations (simulating deposition sites: 10 under conspecific; 10 far from conspecifics, next to a landmark; and 10 far from conspecifics, without a landmark), and each microhabitat had three levels of dispersal type simulating animal treatment (intact buried seed; intact seed over the ground; partially preyed seed over the ground), each with five seeds, totaling 900 seeds. In the forest environment, an experiment was also conducted to verify the fate of seeds using the spool and line technique. The environment and the micro-habitat alone did not explain seed survival, although the dispersal type given by the animal disperser was significant for survival and the buried seeds were the only ones that survived until the last survey. With the spool and line seed experiment, we attested that most of the Paraná pine seeds were preyed after removal (81.5%), and only buried seeds survived, reinforcing the role of scatter-hoarding animals as important agents in the Paraná pine dispersal. This way, our results showed that Paraná pine seeds suffer a very high predation rate, and that only a few seeds escape from predators and recruiting (only 1.1% of the all seeds used in the two experiments), indicating that the survival of seeds is a critical step in the life cycle of this plant, highlighting the role of dispersal mode in recruiting success.

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