Abstract
Fern sporangia may provide an important source of energy for bird species, which in turn can act as potential dispersers of viable spores. This study reports the first case of fern spore dispersal by land birds. We document the consumption of fern sporangia and evaluate the potential spore dispersal by Galápagos finches on Santa Cruz Island. Overall, 18% of the 34 sampled individuals of three finch species, the Vegetarian Finch (Platyspiza crassirostris), the Small Ground Finch (Geospiza fuliginosa) and the Medium Ground Finch (Geospiza fortis), were found to disperse viable spores of two native ferns, Asplenium auritum and Asplenium feei.
Zusammenfassung
Verbreitung von Farnsporen durch Galápagosfinken
Die Sporenbehälter von Farnen können eine wichtige Energiequelle für Vogelarten darstellen, welche wiederum als potenzielle Verbreiter entwicklungsfähiger Sporen auftreten können. Diese Studie berichtet erstmalig über die Verbreitung von Farnsporen durch Landvögel. Wir dokumentieren den Verzehr von Farn-Sporenbehältern und evaluieren die mögliche Sporenverbreitung durch Galápagosfinken auf Santa Cruz. Insgesamt fanden wir, dass 18% der beprobten 34 Individuen dreier Finkenarten, Dickschnabel-Darwinfink (Platyspiza crassirostris), Kleingrundfink (Geospiza fuliginosa) und Mittelgrundfink (G. fortis), entwicklungsfähige Sporen von zwei auf den Galápagosinseln heimischen Farnarten, Asplenium auritum und A. feei, verbreiten.
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Acknowledgements
This research was undertaken within project CGL2017-88122-P funded by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, Spain. We would like to thank the Galápagos National Park (research permits PC-22-16 and PC-01-17) for providing facilities during the fieldwork and Pablo Vargas for stimulating ideas. Rafael Chango and Alonso Carrión facilitated access to the study areas, Heinke Jäger identified the fern species and Estefanía Pereira helped with the capture of birds. Germination experiments were performed in the laboratory of the Galápagos National Park. This research followed all necessary state guidelines for work in protected areas and on listed bird species.
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S. H. P. and R. H. conceived the idea for the study, design and experiment; S. H. P. collected and analysed the data; S. H. P. wrote the paper with contributions from all the other authors.
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Communicated by F. Bairlein.
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Hervías-Parejo, S., Olesen, J.M., Nogales, M. et al. Dispersal of fern spores by Galápagos finches. J Ornithol 160, 831–833 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-019-01656-9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-019-01656-9