Abstract
As a result of their dietary preference for ripe fruit, the ingestion of seeds, the slow food passage rate through the digestive tract, and their daily movements, howling monkeys (Alouatta palliata) act as dispersal agents for the seeds of plant species representing 10 families. For some tree species, fruit consumption by howling monkeys significantly diminishes pre-dispersal seed predation. Post-dispersal seed predators may kill 10–100% of the dispersed seeds depending on the species. Postdispersal predation risk is lowered by the foraging and nesting activities of dung beetles. The Alouatta-plant and the Alouatta-dung beetle interactions play an important role in the fates of the seeds of several tree species.
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© 1986 Dr W. Junk Publishers, Dordrecht
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Estrada, A., Coates-Estrada, R. (1986). Frugivory by howling monkeys (Aluoatta palliata) at Los Tuxtlas, Mexico: dispersal and fate of seeds. In: Estrada, A., Fleming, T.H. (eds) Frugivores and seed dispersal. Tasks for vegetation science, vol 15. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-4812-9_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-4812-9_10
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-94-010-8633-2
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