Abstract
Species-rich, winter-rainfall, microphyllous Renosterveld vegetation in the Western Cape Province of South Africa has largely been transformed for production of wheat and wine. Remaining fragments thus have high conservation value. Abandoned old fields adjacent to natural vegetation fragments could potentially be restored as corridors and habitat for indigenous flora and fauna. We hypothesised that indigenous antelope maintained in a matrix of natural vegetation and abandoned field could play a role in restoration of Renoserveld via seed dispersal.We collected dung of indigenous ungulates in an abandoned field at various distances from natural Renosterveld vegetation, in order to assess the potential of large herbivores to contribute to restoration of plant diversity through seed dispersal. Emerged seedlings from the collected dung represented 29 forb, 13 grass, four sedge, four geophyte and one shrub species. The most abundant emerging seedlings were lawn grass Cynodon dactylon (38%), alien pasture grasses (31%) and indigenous geophyte Romulea rosea (12%). Whereas seeds of annual forbs and grasses were dispersed, only one shrub species was dispersed at very low density. We concluded that large herbivores could retard the rate of recovery of Renosterveld vegetation because viable seeds of herbaceous plants, particularly alien annual grasses and lawn-grasses were more abundant in the dung than the shrub, geophyte or perennial tussock grass species that characterise this vegetation type.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bullock J.M. and Clarke R.T. (2000). Long distance seed dispersal by wind: measuring and modelling the tail of the curve. Oecologia 124: 506–521
Coetzee K. (2002). The Fynbos and Renosterveld. In: Bothma J. P. (eds) Game ranch management, pp 629–632. Van Schaik publishers, Cape Town
Cohn E.J., Van Auken O.W and Bush J.K. (1989). Competitive interactions between Cynodon dactylon and Acacia smallii seedlings at different nutrient levels. American Midland Naturalist 121: 265–272
Cowling R.M., Pierce S.M. and Moll E.J. (1986). Conservation and Utilisation of South Coast Renosterveldan Endangered South African Vegetation type. Biological Conservation 37: 363–377
Cowling R.M., Pierce S.M., Stock W.D. and Cocks M. (1994). Why are there so many mymecochorous species in Cape fynbos?. In: (eds) Plant-Animal Interactions in Mediterranean-type Ecosystems, pp 159–168. Kluwer, Dordrecht, The Netherlands
Cowling R.M. and Richardson D. (1995). Fynbos: South Africa's unique floral kingdom. Fernwood Press, Cape Town
Deacon H.J., Jury M.R. and Ellis F. (1992). Selective regime and time. In: (eds) The Ecology of Fynbos, pp 6–22. Oxford University Press, Cape Town
Dean W.R.J. and Milton S.J. (2003). Did the flora match the fauna? Acocks and historical changes in Karoo biota. South African Journal of Botany 69: 1–10
Donaldson J., Nanni I., Zachariades C. and Kemper J. (2002). Effects of habitat fragmentation on pollinatorbiodiversity and plant reproductive success in Renosterveld shrublands of South Africa. Conservation Biology 16: 1267–1276
Fischer S.F., Poschlod P. and Beinlich B. (1996). Experimental studies of the dispersal of plants and animals on sheep in calcareous grasslands. Journal of Applied Ecology 33: 1206–1222
Gramshaw D. (1976). Temperature/light interactions and the effect of seed source on the germination of annual ryegrass (Lolium rigidum Gaud.) seeds. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 27: 779–786
Hewitt N. and Miyanishi K. (1997). The role of mammals in maintaining plant species richness in a floating Typha marsh in southern Ontario. Biodiversity and Conservation 6: 1085–1102
Janzen D.H. (1984). Dispersal of small seeds by big herbivores: foliage is the fruit. American Naturalist 123: 338–353
Jordano P. and Schupp E.W. (2000). Seed disperser effectiveness: the quantity component and patterns of seed rain for Prunus mahaleb. Ecological Monographs 70: 591–615
Knight R.S. and Siegfried W.R. (1983). Inter-relationships between typesize and colour of fruits and dispersal in southern African trees. Oecologia 56: 402–405
Malo J.E. and Suarez F. (1995). Herbivorous mammals as seed dispersers in a Mediterranean dehesa. Oecologia 104: 264–255
Manning J., Goldblatt P. and Snijman D. (2002). The colour encyclopedia of Cape Bulbs. Timber Press, Portland, USA
Midoko-Iponga D. (2004). Renosterveld Restoration: The role of competition, herbivory and other disturbances. MSc. Thesis, University of Stellenbosch
Milton S.J. and Dean W.R.J. (2001). Seed dispersed in dung of insectivores and herbivores in semi-arid southern Africa. Journal of Arid Environments 47: 465–483
Pakeman R.J., Digneffe G. and Small J.L. (2002). Ecological correlates of endozoochory by herbivores. Functional Ecology 16: 296–304
Pierce S.M. and Cowling R.M. (1984). Phenology of fynbos, renosterveld and subtropical thicket in the south eastern Cape. South African Journal of Botany 3: 1–16
Posada J.M., Aide T.M. and Cavelier J. (2000). Cattle and weedy shrubs as restoration tools of tropical montane rainforest. Restoration Ecology 8: 370–379
Quail P.H. and Carter O.G. (1968). Survival and seasonal germination of seeds of Avena fatua and A. ludoviciana. Australian Journal of Agricultural Research 19: 721–9
Rebelo A.G. 1996. Renosterveld. In: Low A.B. and Rebelo A.G. (eds), Vegetation of South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland. Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, Pretoria, pp. 63–67.
Shiponeni N.N. (2003). Dispersal of seeds as a constraint in revegetation of old fields in Renosterveld vegetation in the Western CapeSouth Africa. University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch, South Africa
Skead C.J. (1980). Historical mammal incidence in the Cape Province Volume 1. Department of Nature and Environmental Conservation, Provincial Administration of the Cape of Good Hope, Cape Town
Slater K. and Du Toit J.T. (2002). Seed dispersal by chacma baboons and syntopic ungulates in southern African savannas. South African Journal of Wildlife Research 32: 75–79
Sorensen A.E. (1986). Seed dispersal by adhesion. Annual Review of Ecology and Systemmatics 17: 443–463
Tackenberg O., Poschlod P. and Bonn S. (2003). Assessment of wind dispersal potential in plant species. Ecological Monographs 73: 191–205
Tinley K.L. (1973). An ecological reconnaissance of the Moremi Wildlife ReserveBotswana. Okavango Wildlife Society, Gaborone, Botswana
Von Hase A., Rouget M., Maze K., Helme N. (2003). A Fine-Scale Conservation Plan for Cape Lowlands Renosterveld Technical Report No. CCU 2/03. Cape Conservation UnitBotanical Society of South Africa, pp. 104. www.botanicalsociety.org.za/ccu.
Welch D. (1985). Studies in the grazing of heather moorland in north-east Scotland. Journal of Applied Ecology 22: 461–472
Young T.P., Partridge N. and Macre A. (1995). Long-term glades in Acacia bushland and their edge effects in Laikipia, Kenya. Ecological Applications 5: 97–108
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Shiponeni, N.N., Milton, S.J. Seed dispersal in the dung of large herbivores: implications for restoration of Renosterveld shrubland old fields. Biodivers Conserv 15, 3161–3175 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-005-6317-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10531-005-6317-5