Seed dispersal but not seed germination facilitated by seabirds: seed ecology of Cook’s scurvy grass

Dale, Esther E.; Lange, PJ de; Burns, Bruce R.

doi:10.20417/nzjecol.41.27

Cited by 5 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 34 publications

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“…Many birds are known to act as dispersers of fruits and seeds. They can eat different types of plant diaspores, e.g., fleshy fruits, berries, fruits with seeds in a sticky matrix, or hard seeds, and disperse them over a range of distances (McEven 1978 ; Santamaría et al 2002 ; Traveset and Riera 2005 ; Rodríguez-Pérez et al 2005 ; Wotton et al 2008 ; Bucher and Bocco 2009 ; Vazačová and Münzbergová 2013 ; Costa et al 2014 ; Orłowski et al 2016 ; Dale et al 2017 ). Among crop-carrying birds, pigeons are an important vector, and therefore play a significant role in plant long-distance dispersal.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of mucilage envelope in the endozoochory of selected plant taxa

Kreitschitz

Haase

Gorb

2020

Sci Nat

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Myxodiaspory (formation of mucilage envelope around seeds and fruits) is a common adaptation to dry habitats known in many families of Angiosperms. The mucilage envelope of some seeds seems to be also a unique morphological adaptation which protects myxospermatic diaspores while passing through the bird’s digestive system. To evaluate the protective potential of mucilage, we fed the diaspores of seven plant species (representing three different mucilage types and three species of non-mucilaginous plants) to pigeons, Columba livia domestica. Twenty-four hours later, we collected the droppings of pigeons and examined a total of 18,900 non-destroyed diaspores to check for mucilage presence and germination ability. Out of all the examined diaspores, 4.5% were mucilaginous seeds. Among them, the highest number (12.2–13.5%) of viable diaspores belonged to the hemicellulosic type of mucilage (from Plantago species). Only 3.7% of germinating diaspores with pectic mucilage (Linum usitatissimum) were collected, and no seeds representing cellulosic mucilage (e.g., Ocimum basilicum). For non-mucilaginous plants, we collected only a few individual seeds (0.1% out of 8100 seeds used). We noted that the mucilaginous seeds found in the droppings were able to germinate; however, the germination ability was generally smaller in comparison to the control (i.e., not digested) seeds. Our results revealed that the presence of mucilage envelope has an impact on diaspore dispersal and survivability. With our experiments, we demonstrated for the first time that the mucilage envelope, especially of the non-cellulosic type, supports endozoochory. We also showed that non-mucilaginous seeds can be occasionally dispersed via endozoochory and are able to germinate. The results of our studies can explain the ways of plants distribution at a small, local scale as well as in long-distance dispersal, e.g., between islands or even continents.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The role of mucilage envelope in the endozoochory of selected plant taxa

Kreitschitz

Haase

Gorb

2020

Sci Nat

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A Stochastic Model to Predict Seed Dispersal in Linear and Stokes Waves

Chen,

Zeng,

Ren

et al. 2024

Ecohydrology

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Plant cultivation is utilized in coastal ecological restoration to cope with shrinking wetlands, and, benefiting from hydrochory, disseminating indigenous plant seeds represents a high‐efficiency strategy. Random displacement model (RDM) is an efficient alternative to simulate seed dispersal progress via wave. Consequently, we investigated the effect of seed properties and wave characteristics on seeds motion in waves by RDM. Errors between the theoretical comprehensive longitudinal diffusion coefficient of the solute and the simulated one by RDM within an acceptable range indicate that the model is applicable for further simulation of particle dispersal in waves. Simulation results demonstrated that seeds with smaller size and density can transport farther in waves; larger wave heights, smaller water depths and longer wavelengths in linear waves and larger relative wave heights and smaller relative water depths in Stokes waves all promote longitudinally seed diffusion. Finally fitting formulas were proposed for the longitudinal propagation position (including mean and variance) of seed dispersal in linear and Stokes waves. Although this work can provide certain scientific guidance for the restoration of coastal vegetation ecology through natural colonization, there is still much work that needs to be conducted to further the research.

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