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Biotic Seed Dispersal Mechanisms of Tropical Rain Forests – Bats, Fishes, and Migratory Birds

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Reproductive Ecology of Flowering Plants: Patterns and Processes

Abstract

Seed dispersal is crucial for plants to maintain structure, diversity, population, and community. Although wind and water can disperse seeds, 75% of total terrestrial plants require animals to move their seeds to microsites that favor recruitment. Animals move seeds externally (epizoochory) and internally (endozoochory). While epizoochory is promising for plants, not many plants have evolved fruit/seed traits to favor it or evolved as a major dispersal mechanism in grasslands, scrub forests, and dry deciduous forests. Frugivorous animals perform endozoochory and long-distance dispersal of seeds, particularly in tropical rainforests. The quantity and quality of endozoochory are predicted by the abundance and fruit-handling behavior of animals. Birds, mammals, fishes, and ants are major biotic dispersal agents of tropics; but, crabs, wasps, and dung beetles are also often reported as seed dispersal agents of tropical plants.

India is a home for three tropical biodiversity hotspots. India is rich in terms of both the fleshy fruited plants and frugivorous birds and mammals. But, India has generated no commendable data on plant-animal interactions in general and plant-frugivore interaction in particular. In this chapter, we present three forms of seed dispersal that are relevant, but neglected for India – chiropterochory, ichthyochory, and long-distance seed dispersal by migrant birds. Although the proportion of fruit bat species in paleotropics is only about 25% of the total bat species, they are abundant, environment- and climate-resilient, resurgent, and local migrants according to the fruiting phenology of plants. Their fruits do not overlap with the fruits of birds – the major dispersal agents of day. Fishes in Cyprinidae are proposed as frugivores and seed dispersal agents of small-seeded riparian and swamp species for old-world tropics. But, India has so far not reported any case of fish-facilitated seed dispersal. India also hosts several transcontinental migratory water birds that can facilitate both epizoochory and endozoochory of water plants. India also facilitates regional and local migrations of many frugivorous and insectivorous birds across latitudes (north and northeast India to south India) and altitudes. But, we have no information on their contribution in shaping the plant community and structure in any Indian habitats.

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  1. Department of Animal Science, Central University of Kerala, Kasaragod, Kerala, India

    Palatty Allesh Sinu, Anjana P. Unni & Thomas Jose

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  1. Department of Botany, University of Delhi, New Delhi, Delhi, India

    Rajesh Tandon

  2. Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

    K. R. Shivanna

  3. Department of Botany, Hansraj College, University of Delhi, New Delhi, Delhi, India

    Monika Koul

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Sinu, P.A., Unni, A.P., Jose, T. (2020). Biotic Seed Dispersal Mechanisms of Tropical Rain Forests – Bats, Fishes, and Migratory Birds. In: Tandon, R., Shivanna, K., Koul, M. (eds) Reproductive Ecology of Flowering Plants: Patterns and Processes. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4210-7_14

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