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Fleshy fruit characteristics in a temperate deciduous forest of Japan: how unique are they?

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Abstract

This study investigated the fleshy fruit characteristics of 28 woody species in a Japanese temperate forest where large sedentary seed-dispersing mammals are present. We tested whether the findings in previous studies in temperate forests of Europe and North America are universal or not. Results have suggested that fruits of all species were eaten both by birds and mammals except for four species with larger fruits, which were eaten only by mammals. A gradient was found from a syndrome characterized by small, oily, and large-seeded fruits to a syndrome characterized by large, succulent, non-oily, and small-seeded fruits. The sizes and colors of the fruits were not conspicuously different from previous findings in Europe and North America. On the other hand, nitrogen and lipids in the fleshy part did not show seasonally increasing trends, or even seasonally decreasing trends in terms of dry weight. This result, suggesting the absence of community-level adaptation of fruit traits to migratory bird dispersers, contrasted with findings in Europe and North America. Large sedentary arboreal or tree-climbing mammals may have a greater effect on the evolution of fruit-disperser relations than opportunistic migratory birds.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank Mrs. I. Fushimi and Mrs. M. Hosoi for their critical help measuring fruit dimensions and Dr. K. Yamazaki and Dr. C. Kozakai for their help sampling fruits in the field. We are also very grateful to Dr. R. T. Corlett for the comments on an earlier version of the manuscript, and to the Japan Food Research Laboratories, to which we entrusted the measurements of nutritional properties. This study was supported in part by the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature (Project 2-2: Sustainability and biodiversity assessment on forest utilization options), by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (19201048), and by the Pollution Control Research Fund of the Ministry of the Environment of Japan (Project on the Japanese black bears’ mass intrusion into human settlements).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8687, Japan

    Takashi Masaki

  2. Nagano University, Ueda, Japan

    Kazuaki Takahashi

  3. Tsukuba University, Tsukuba, Japan

    Ayako Sawa

  4. The Graduate University for Advanced Studies, Hayama, Japan

    Tomoyuki Kado

  5. Center for Ecological Research, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

    Shoji Naoe

  6. Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Tokyo, Japan

    Shinsuke Koike

  7. Tohoku Research Center, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, Morioka, Japan

    Mitsue Shibata

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  1. Takashi Masaki
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  2. Kazuaki Takahashi
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Correspondence to Takashi Masaki.

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Masaki, T., Takahashi, K., Sawa, A. et al. Fleshy fruit characteristics in a temperate deciduous forest of Japan: how unique are they?. J Plant Res 125, 103–114 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10265-011-0423-0

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