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Dispersal of fig seeds in the Cook Islands: introduced frugivores are no substitutes for natives

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Abstract

Across the Pacific, island vegetation is altering in response to changes in seed disperser assemblages brought about by extinctions and introductions of birds and other animals. On the Cook Islands in the South Pacific, the Pacific Banyan (Ficus prolixa, Moraceae) is undergoing little if any recruitment, possibly linked to a lack of dispersal agents. On Rarotonga, where F. prolixa is found in semi-urban and agricultural environments, there is no recent recruitment in contrast to the situation on Atiu where the tree is common in native forest. We examined the quality and quantity of seed dispersal offered to F. prolixa by the available frugivores on these islands, comparing the effectiveness of extant native and introduced species. The native Cook Islands fauna, particularly birds and bats, appear to be the most effective seed dispersers of F. prolixa, both in terms of quantity and quality. Whilst these are relatively numerous on Atiu, they rarely visit F. prolixa on Rarotonga. The native Chocolate hermit crab Coenobita cavipes is a previously unreported additional native seed disperser, conferring low quantity, but high quality dispersal. Introduced birds and mammals are the most numerous F. prolixa frugivores on Rarotonga and in non-forest environments on Atiu, but they act mainly as seed predators. Consequently, the losses and rarity of remaining native frugivores have not been compensated for by introduced species on Rarotonga which may be contributing to the absence of recruitment there.

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Acknowledgments

For their help during fieldwork we thank Sonia Vougioukalou, Gerald McCormack (Cook Islands Biodiversity and Natural Heritage), Ed Saul (Cook Islands Conservation Service), George Mateariki and the late Maddie, to whom this paper is dedicated. Thanks also to Richard Thewlis, Rachel Wiltshire and Paul Dalton. For research permits we thank the Cook Islands Government. S.C.S. and A.P. gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Mouat Jones/Harvey/Boyle Travel Fund and the Garstang Priestly Travel Fund. We thank two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions for this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geography, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH8 9XP, UK

    S. C. Staddon

  2. Centre for Biodiversity and Conservation, Faculty of Biological Sciences, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, USA

    S. C. Staddon, S. G. Compton & A. Portch

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  1. S. C. Staddon
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  2. S. G. Compton
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  3. A. Portch
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Correspondence to S. C. Staddon.

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Staddon, S.C., Compton, S.G. & Portch, A. Dispersal of fig seeds in the Cook Islands: introduced frugivores are no substitutes for natives. Biodivers Conserv 19, 1905–1916 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-010-9811-3

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