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Frugivory and seed dispersal by the yellow-throated marten, Martes flavigula, in a subtropical forest of China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 March 2008

You-Bing Zhou ,
Eleanor Slade ,
Chris Newman ,
Xiao-Ming Wang  and
Shu-Yi Zhang
You-Bing Zhou
Affiliation:
Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Mengla, Yunnan, 666303, China School of Life Science, East China Normal University, No. 3663, ZhongShanBei Road, Shanghai, 200062, China Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039, China
Eleanor Slade
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK
Chris Newman
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK
Xiao-Ming Wang*
Affiliation:
School of Life Science, East China Normal University, No. 3663, ZhongShanBei Road, Shanghai, 200062, China
Shu-Yi Zhang*
Affiliation:
School of Life Science, East China Normal University, No. 3663, ZhongShanBei Road, Shanghai, 200062, China
*
1Corresponding authors. Emails: [email protected]; [email protected]
1Corresponding authors. Emails: [email protected]; [email protected]
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Extract

The yellow-throated marten, Martes flavigula, is the only living species of the genus Martes found in subtropical and tropical forests (Harrison et al. 2004). It is distributed throughout central and southern Asia in a wide variety of habitats. Despite its extensive geographical range, the ecology and behaviour of this species has so far received little attention, aside from a study of habitat use (Grassman et al. 2005). Studies on other martens have shown that fruits are an important food resource (e.g. M. martes, Bermejo & Guitian 2000; M. foina, Pandolfi et al. 1996). Thus, they are considered to be important potential seed dispersers (Corlett 1998, Herrera 1989, Willson 1993), as confirmed by recent studies (M. melampus, Otani 2002; M. americana, Hickey et al. 1999; M. foina and M. martes, Schaumann & Heinken 2002). Although no systematic study of the diet of M. flavigula has been conducted (Harrison et al. 2004), it is known to be omnivorous and to consume fruit (Gao & Wang 1987). To date, however, there has been no comprehensive study of frugivory and seed dispersal by M. flavigula (but see Corlett 1998).

Keywords

carnivorefaecal analysisfruit morphologyfruit selectionMartes flavigulaseed dispersalseed germination
Type
Short Communication
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 24 , Issue 2 , March 2008 , pp. 219 - 223
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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