Flying vs. climbing: Factors controlling arboreal seed removal in oak–beech forests

Perea, Ramón; Miguel, Alfonso San; Gil, Luis

doi:10.1016/j.foreco.2011.06.022

Cited by 34 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 39 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…and moths Cydia spp. Both of these groups of acorn predators consume high amounts of acorns during the period of seed maturation (Pulido and Díaz , Espelta et al , , Perea et al , Pérez‐Ramos et al ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Functional responses of contrasting seed predator guilds to masting in two Mediterranean oak species

Moreira

Pérez-Ramos

Abdala‐Roberts

et al. 2017

Oikos

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The predator satiation hypothesis poses that synchronous and variable seed production during masting events increases seed escape through seed predator satiation. The success of this strategy depends upon the type of consumer functional response, in this case defined as the change in seed consumption rate by a predator as a function of change in seed density. Type II (where the proportion of seed consumed is highest at low levels of seed availability) and type III (where the proportion of seed consumed is highest at some intermediate level of seed availability and then declines towards zero) functional responses describe negative density-dependence and indicate predator satiation. The type of function response should be contingent upon herbivore traits: type II responses are predicted for dietary specialist predators with low mobility, and type III responses are predicted for highly mobile, dietary generalist predators. Surprisingly, most studies have not evaluated whether functional responses vary among seed predator guilds. Here we describe the functional responses at population and individual tree level of highly mobile generalist (birds and rodents) and less mobile specialist (insects) pre-dispersal seed predators attacking acorns of two sympatric oaks (Quercus suber and Q. canariensis) over a 10-year period. Our results showed that in most cases specialist seed predators exhibited the predicted type II functional response at both the individual tree and population level for both oak species. However, generalist seed predators did not exhibit the predicted type III response; instead, they also exhibited a type II response at the individual tree and population level for both oak species. By independently assessing the effects of multiple seed predators associated with the same host tree species, our work highlights the influence of herbivore traits on the outcome of plant-seed predator interactions in masting species, and thus furthers our understanding of the ecological and evolutionary mechanisms underlying masting behaviour.

show abstract

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Functional responses of contrasting seed predator guilds to masting in two Mediterranean oak species

Moreira

Pérez-Ramos

Abdala‐Roberts

et al. 2017

Oikos

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Spatial variation exists within habitats and across regions (August 1983, McShea 2000, Stein et al 2014, and it differs for foragers in the canopy vs. on the forest floor (Carbone et al 2005, Sheldon andNadkarni 2013). In the canopy, host trees are accessed by song birds and arboreal-foraging arthopods and mammals (Curran and Leighton 2000, McShea 2000, Koenig and Knops 2001, Perea et al 2011, Milleron et al 2013, Bell and Clark 2016 Fig. 1).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Foodwebs based on unreliable foundations: spatiotemporal masting merged with consumer movement, storage, and diet

Clark

Núñez

Tomasek

2019

Ecological Monographs

114

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Mast‐fruiting trees represent a pulsed resource that both supports and destabilizes consumer populations. Whereas a reliable resource is abundant on average and with limited variation in time and space, masting is volatile and localized, and that variability ramifies throughout food‐webs. Theory is developed to evaluate how the space–time structure of masting interacts with consumers who exploit alternative hosts, forage widely in space, and store reserves in time. We derive the space–time–species covariance in resource supply and combine it with the space–time–diet breadth of consumers, or ambit. Direct connection to data is made possible with Mast Inference and Forecasting (MASTIF), a state‐space autoregressive model that fits seed‐trap and canopy observations and predicts resource availability within the canopy and on the forest floor with full uncertainty. A resource score can be assigned to each consumer–habitat combination that integrates the benefits of a high mean supply weighed against the variance cost. As the consumer ambit increases, the volatility of an unreliable resource shifts from a variance cost to a mean benefit. Consumers foraging in the canopy (arboreal arthropods and rodents, song birds) experience space‐time covariance between host trees. Consumers on the forest floor (seed and damping‐off fungi, arthropods, rodents, ground‐nesting birds, mammals) experience instead a redistribution of that covariance by dispersal. For consumers lacking mobility, demographic storage in the form of episodic birth cohorts following mast years is important for population persistence. Consumers additionally compensate volatility with diet breadth. Depending on the dominant masting strategies of host tree species in the diet, habitats differentially limit consumers depending on the misalignment between consumer ambit and spatiotemporal covariance of hosts. The impact of adding or subtracting a diet item can be gauged with the standard error (SE) rule or the benefit of an added diet item balanced against the variance cost, both of which depend on the existing diet, the abundance of the new host, and the consumer's foraging ambit. Results rank habitats by their capacities to support wildlife and other consumers from a resource perspective. Results are connected directly to data, with full uncertainty, by MASTIF.

show abstract

“…En contraste, las mayores tasas de remoción de semillas en el hábitat no quemado sugiere que a pesar del mayor esfuerzo que podría representar el tener que escalar plantas de mayor tamaño a las encontradas en el área quemada seguramente este el área no quemada ofrece la sensación de un mayor sentido de protección a los roedores. Las buenas habilidades escaladoras de los roedores removiendo frutos en plantas en la fase pre-dispersiva ya ha sido observada también sobre frutos carnosos y bellotas del genero Quercus en sitios con abundante cobertura arbórea y arbustiva (Bas et al, 2005, Perea et al, 2011b.…”

Section: Discussionunclassified

“…La remoción a nivel pre-dispersivo por parte de roedores (Denslow & Moermond, 1982;Obeso, 1998;Englund, 1993;Santos & Telleria, 1994;Bas, Gómez & Pons, 2005;Briani & Guimaraes, 2007;Hernández, 2008) y aves (Traveset, 1993;1994;Jordano, 1995;Bas et al, 2005) en especies de frutos carnosos y no carnosos (Perea, San Miguel & Gil, 2011b) ha sido relativamente poco estudiada. En el caso de las áreas quemadas la situación es aun más desconocida ya que no hemos encontrado estudios que evalúen el impacto de los vertebrados supervivientes o colonizadores sobre las diás-poras resultantes a partir de la primera fructificación post-incendio.…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

“…En Europa, la depredación de diásporas de frutos carnosos a nivel pre-dispersivo es realizada bá-sicamente por aves de las familias Fringillidae y Paridae (Traveset 1993;1994;Jordano, 1995) y por roedores de la especie Apodemus sylvaticus, que también podría remover bellotas de Quercus coccifera, ya que esta planta rebrota abundantemente después del fuego (Gracia & Sabaté, 1996). Apodemus sylvaticus se considera uno de los principales removedores de frutos carnosos y bellotas en áreas templadas y mediterráneas (Hulme, 1997;Torre, Arrizabalaga & Díaz, 2002;Bas et al, 2005;Fedriani & Manzaneda, 2005;Pons & Pausas, 2007;Perea et al, 2011b) y aunque en la mayoría de los estudios no se evalúa la remoción en la planta madre, existe evidencia de que los roedores son buenos escaladores (Obeso, 1998;Bas et al, 2005;Hernández, 2008) alcanzando alturas de hasta 3,75m en bosques de encinos (Perea et al, 2011b). La actividad de remoción pre-dispersiva podría estar fuertemente condicionada por la presencia de cobertura y refugios (Fedriani & Manzaneda, 2005;Ouden et al, 2005) ya que se infiere un menor riesgo de depredación en ambientes con mayor cobertura debido a una exposición menos evidente ante los depredadores (Fedriani & Manzaneda, 2005).…”

Section: Introductionunclassified

See 1 more Smart Citation

Pre-dispersal seed removal of fleshy fruits and Quercus coccifera (Fagaceae) acorns in a recently burned Mediterranean habitat

Jones¹,

Bas²,

Pons³

2015

URJ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The seed fate in early successional habitats can determine plant composition and regeneration capacity after disturbance. Predispersalseed removal has been poorly studied in Mediterranean habitats, especially in burned and logged habitats. We assessed it for two years in pine forests with experiments excluding vertebrates from fleshy fruits (infructescences of Smilax aspera and Rubia peregrina) and acorns (branches of Quercus coccifera). We compared one unburned and one burned area (control). Acorn removal was nil in the burned area while in the unburned habitat seed removal occurred from the beginning of the experiments. It is suggested that the greater vegetation cover in the unburned area shelter rodents from predators and increased their activity. In contrast, reduced cover in the burned area and the occurrence of gnawed acorns on the ground suggest acorn removalby rodents mainly in the post-dispersive stage. Smilax aspera seed removal was slower, and total loss of fruits due to senescence higher,in the burned area. Seed removal appears to be conditioned by interannualvariations related to the activity and density of granivores and frugivores, the availability of fleshy fruits, and the maturation of fruits.In post-fire managed areas the role of granivores and frugivores in the regeneration process should be taken into account.

show abstract

Flying vs. climbing: Factors controlling arboreal seed removal in oak–beech forests

Cited by 34 publications

References 39 publications

Functional responses of contrasting seed predator guilds to masting in two Mediterranean oak species

Functional responses of contrasting seed predator guilds to masting in two Mediterranean oak species

Foodwebs based on unreliable foundations: spatiotemporal masting merged with consumer movement, storage, and diet

Pre-dispersal seed removal of fleshy fruits and Quercus coccifera (Fagaceae) acorns in a recently burned Mediterranean habitat

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About