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Can forest fragmentation disrupt a conditional mutualism? A case from central Amazon

  • Terrestrial Vertebrate Ecology - Original Paper
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Abstract

This is the first study to investigate whether scatter-hoarding behavior, a conditional mutualism, can be disrupted by forest fragmentation. We examined whether acouchies (Myoprocta acouchy, Rodentia) and agoutis (Dasyprocta leporina, Rodentia) changed scatter-hoarding behavior toward seeds of Astrocaryum aculeatum (Arecaceae) as a consequence of a decrease in forest-patch area. Our study was conducted at the 30-year-old Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project, in central Amazon, Brazil. We tested whether forest size affected the number of Astrocaryum seeds removed and scatter-hoarded (and likely dispersed) by acouchies and agoutis, as well as the distance that the seeds were hoarded. The study extended over three seasons: the peak of the rainy season (March–April), the transition between the rainy and the dry season (May–June), and the peak of the dry season (August–September). Our results revealed that the number of seeds removed was larger in smaller fragments, but that the percentage of seeds hoarded was much lower, and seeds eaten much higher, in 1-ha fragments. Moreover, fewer seeds were taken longer distances in fragments than in the continuous forest. Site affected the number of seeds removed and season affected the percentage of seeds hoarded: more seeds were removed from stations in one site than in two others, and hoarding was more important in April and September than in June. Our study reveals that scatter-hoarding behavior is affected by forest fragmentation, with the most important disruption in very small fragments. Fragmentation converts a largely mutualistic relationship between the rodents and this palm in large forest patches into seed predation in small fragments.

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Acknowledgments

We thank M. L. Dourado, S. M. Souza, A. M. dos Reis and O. F. da Silva, for invaluable field assistance. Significant comments were provided by Dr J. Brown, Dr R. Foster, Dr B. Patterson, Dr C. Whelan, Dr P. Banks, Dr T. Theimer, and one anonymous reviewer. This work was funded by the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico, the BDFFP and the University of Illinois at Chicago. This is publication no. 531 in the BDFFP technical series. Our experiments comply with the laws in Brazil. M. L. S. P. J. was supported by CNPq with a Ph.D. scholarship and H. F. H. was supported by NSF grants DEB 012908 and 0516259 during the course of this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, 845 W. Taylor Street, Chicago, IL, 60607, USA

    Maria Luisa S. P. Jorge & Henry F. Howe

  2. Department of Zoology, The Field Museum, 1400 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL, 60605, USA

    Maria Luisa S. P. Jorge & Henry F. Howe

  3. Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazonia and Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, C.P. 478, Manaus, 69011-970, Brazil

    Maria Luisa S. P. Jorge

  4. Department of Biological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, VU Station B 35-1634, Nashville, TN, 37235, USA

    Maria Luisa S. P. Jorge

Authors
  1. Maria Luisa S. P. Jorge
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  2. Henry F. Howe
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Correspondence to Maria Luisa S. P. Jorge.

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Communicated by Peter Banks.

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Jorge, M.L.S.P., Howe, H.F. Can forest fragmentation disrupt a conditional mutualism? A case from central Amazon. Oecologia 161, 709–718 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-009-1417-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-009-1417-7

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