Seed dispersal in an African fig tree: Birds as high quantity, low quality dispersers?

Journal of Biogeography

Volumn 23, Issue 4, 1996, Pages 553-563

  Compton, S G ^a,b   Craig, A J F K ^a   Waters, I W R ^a  

^a RHODES UNIVERSITY   (South Africa)

^b UNIVERSITY OF LEEDS   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Birds; Ficus; frugivory; rodents; seed dispersal

Indexed keywords

FIG; FRUGIVORY; ORNITHOCHORY; SEED DISPERSAL;

SOUTH AFRICA;

FICUS BURTT-DAVYI; MORACEAE;

EID: 0030302881     PISSN: 03050270     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2699.1996.tb00017.x     Document Type: Conference Paper

References (31)

1. Baijnath, H. & Ramcharun, S. (1988) Reproductive biology and chalcid symbiosis in Ficus burtt-davyi (Moraceae). Monogr. Syst. Bot. Miss. Bot. Gard. 25, 227-235.
2. Breitwisch, R. (1983) Frugivores at a fruiting vine in a southern Cameroon tropical wet forest. Biotropica, 15, 125-128.
3. Bronstein, J L. (1992) Seed predators as mutualists: ecology and evolution of the fig/pollinator interaction. Insect-plant interactions IV (ed. by E. Bernays), pp. 1-44. CRC Press, Boca Raton.
4. Brown, J.H., Davidson, D.W. & Reichman, O.J. (1979) An experimental study of competition between seed-eating desert rodents and ants. Am. Zool. 19, 1129-1143.
5. Compton, S.G. (1993) One way to be a fig. Afric. Ent. 1, 151-158.
6. Compton, S.G. & Nefdt, R.J.C. (1990) The figs and fig wasps of Ficus burtt-davyi. Mitt. Inst. Allg. Bot. Hamburg, 23a, 441-450.
7. Compton, S.G. & Robertson, H.G. (1988) Complex interactions between mutualisms: ants tending homopterans protect fig seeds and pollinators. Ecology, 69, 1302-1305.
8. Estrada, A. & Coates-Estrada, R. (1986) Frugivory in howler monkeys (Allouatta palliata) at Los Tuxtlas, Mexico: dispersal and fate of seeds. Frugivores and seed dispersal (ed. by A. Estrada and T. Fleming), pp. 93-104. W. Junk, Dordrecht.
9. Herrera, C.M. (1981) Are tropical fruits more rewarding to dispersers than temperate ones? Am Nat. 118, 896-907.
10. Howe, H.F. (1986) Seed dispersal by fruit-eating birds and mammals. Seed dispersal (ed. by D.R. Murray), pp. 123-190. Academic Press, Sydney.
11. Howe, H.F. (1993) Specialized and generalized dispersal systems: where does 'the paradigm' stand? Vegetatio, 107/108, 3-13.
12. Howe, H.F. & Smallwood, J. (1982) Ecology of seed dispersal. Ann. Rev Ecol. Syst 13, 201-228.
13. Howe, H.F. & Westley. L.C (1988) Ecological relationships of plants and animals, p. 173. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
14. Kaufmann, S., McKey, D.B., Hossaert-McKey, M. & Horvitz, C.C. (1991) Adaptations for a two-phase seed dispersal system involving vertebrates and ants in a hemiepiphytic fig (Ficus microcarpa: Moraceae). Am. J. Bot. 78, 971-977.
15. Levey, D.J. (1987) Seed size and fruit-handling techniques of avian frugivores. Am. Nat. 129, 471-485.
16. Maclean, G.L. (1985) Roberts' birds of Southern Africa, p. 848. John Voelcker Bird Book Fund, Cape Town.
17. Price, M.V. & Jenkins, S.H. (1986) Rodents as seed consumers and dispersers. Seed dispersal (ed. by D.R. Murray), pp. 191-235. Academic Press, Sydney.
18. Rashbrook, V.K., Compton, S.G. & Lawton, J.H. (1992) Ant-herbivore interactions: reasons for the absence of benefits to a fern with extrafloral nectaries. Ecology, 73, 2167-2174.
19. Roberts, J.T. & Heithaus, E.R. (1986) Ants rearrange the vertebrate-generated seed shadow of a neotropical fig tree. Ecology, 67, 1046-1051.
20. Ross, S.J. (1994) The phytophagous insect community on the veld fig, Ficus burtt-davyi Hutch. Unpublished MSc. thesis, Rhodes University, South Africa.
21. Schupp, E.W. (1993) Quantity, quality and the effectiveness of seed dispersal by animals. Vegetatio, 107/108, 15-29.
22. Skinner, J.D. & Smithers, R.H.N. (1992) The mammals of the southern African subregion, p. 167. University of Pretoria Press, Pretoria, South Africa.
23. Snow, D.W. (1971) Evolutionary aspects of fruit-eating in birds. Ibis, 113, 194-202.
24. Snow, B. & Snow, D.W. (1988) Birds and Berries, p. 268. T. & A.D. Poyser, Calton, U.K.
25. Terborgh, J. (1986) Keystone plant resources in the tropical forest. Conservation Biology, the Science of Scarcity and Diversity (ed. by M.E. Soule), pp. 330-344. Sinauer, Sunderland, MA.
26. Trainer, J.M. & Will, T.C. (1984) Avian methods of feeding on Bursera simaruba (Burseraceae) fruits in Panama. Auk, 101, 193-194.
27. van der Pijl, L. (1972) Principles of dispersal in higher plants, p. 298. Springer-Verlag, Berlin.
28. van Greuning, J. V. (1990) A synopsis of the genus Ficus (Moraceae) in southern Africa. S. Afric. J. Bot. 5, 599-630.
29. Vellayon, S. (1981) The nutritive value of Ficus in the diet of the Lar Gibbon (Hylobates lar). Malays. Appl. Biol. 10, 177-181.
30. Wiebes, J.T. (1979) Co-evolution of figs and their insect pollinators. Ann. Rev. Ecol Syst. 10, 1-12.
31. Wheelwright, N.T. (1985) Fruit size, gape width, and the diets of fruit-eating birds. Ecology, 66, 808-818.