Abstract
Seed dispersal and predation are paramount for tropical plant diversity. When encountered by scatter-hoarding frugivores, seeds can be either eaten, dispersed or ignored. But even after dispersal, seed caches are still subjected to predation. Many factors are known to influence these dynamics; however, how frequently hoarders use certain patches has seldom been related to cache predation rates. We used the interaction between agoutis (Dasyprocta leporina), a scatter-hoarding rodent, and Joannesia princeps, a tropical tree, as a model to investigate how the number of visits by hoarders in certain areas influences cache predation and seed fate. Camera-traps were used for 30 days in twenty different locations in Tijuca National Park to assess number of visits by agoutis. Thereafter, we placed seed piles on the same areas and determined their fate using the spool-and-line method to track seeds for over one hundred days. We found a non-linear relationship between how often an area is used by hoarders and the final proportion of dispersed seeds. At areas with a low number of visits, proportion of dispersed seeds was low due to low removal. As frequency of visits by hoarders increased, seed removal and the number of dispersal events increased but so did cache predation. Thus, in areas intensively used by hoarders, high cache predation resulted in a low number of dispersed seeds that remained alive in caches. As a result, dispersal was maximized in areas with intermediate use by scatter-hoarders, where there was a balance between primary seed dispersal and cache predation.
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Data Availability
Data and code used in this study are archived at GitHub Repository (https://github.com/Pedro-Mittelman/Seed_Fate_and_Agouti_Space_Use).
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Acknowledgements
We are thankful to all TNP staff and REFAUNA team for help with field work. We thank Mauro Galetti, Pedro Jordano and two anonymous reviewers for their critical comments on the manuscript.
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Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) and Fundação Grupo Boticário de Proteção à Natureza gave financial support for this research. FASF and ASP received CNPq fellowships and PM received a CAPES scholarship.
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AP, FASF and PM conceived the ideas; AP, FASF and PM designed the methodology; PM collected and analysed the data. PM led the writing manuscript. All authors contributed critically to the drafts and gave final approval for publication.
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Mittelman, P., Pires, A.S. & Fernandez, F.A.S. The intermediate dispersal hypothesis: seed dispersal is maximized in areas with intermediate usage by hoarders. Plant Ecol 222, 221–231 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-020-01100-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-020-01100-6