Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T18:22:21.580Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Importance of the lilac-crowned parrot in pre-dispersal seed predation of Astronium graveolens in a Mexican tropical dry forest

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2010

Emma Ines Villaseñor-Sánchez ,
Rodolfo Dirzo  and
Katherine Renton
Emma Ines Villaseñor-Sánchez
Affiliation:
Posgrado en Ciencias Biológicas, Estación de Biología Chamela, Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México
Rodolfo Dirzo
Affiliation:
Stanford University, Department of Biology, Stanford, CA 94305
Katherine Renton*
Affiliation:
Estación de Biología Chamela (IB-UNAM), Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Apartado Postal 21, Melaque, Jalisco 48980, México
*
1Corresponding author. Email: [email protected], [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract:

Parrots represent a large biomass of canopy granivores in tropical forests, and may be effective pre-dispersal seed predators. We evaluated the importance of the lilac-crowned parrot (Amazona finschi) as a pre-dispersal seed predator of Astronium graveolens (Anacardiaceae) in tropical dry forest. Seeds were collected in fruit-traps beneath 22 trees to compare pre-dispersal seed predation by parrots and insects, and determine whether intensity of seed predation was related to fruit-crop size or the aggregation of fruiting conspecifics around focal trees. Ground-level exclosures were established to compare post-dispersal seed predation by vertebrates and insects. The lilac-crowned parrot predated 43% of seeds pre-dispersal, while insects predated only 1.3%. Intensity of pre-dispersal seed predation by parrots was significantly greater in high-fruiting 0.79-ha resource patches, and was not related to fruit abundance of the focal tree. Foraging parrots also discarded immature fruits below the tree, causing a total 56% pre-dispersal loss of seed production, which was greater than post-dispersal removal by vertebrates, mainly rodents (51%) or insects (36%). Our results show that parrots play an important role as pre-dispersal seed predators in tropical dry forests. The reduction of parrot populations in tropical forests may have consequences for seed predation, affecting recruitment patterns of canopy trees.

Keywords

Amazona finschiChamela-Cuixmalafruit crop sizegranivoryMexicoplant–animal interactionpost-dispersal seed predationPsittacidaeresource patchsemi-deciduous forest
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 26 , Issue 2 , March 2010 , pp. 227 - 236
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

LITERATURE CITED

ANDERSON, C. J. & MACMAHON, J. A. 2001. Granivores, exclosures, and seed banks: harvester ants and rodents in sagebrush-steppe. Journal of Arid Environments 49:343–355.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BERG, K. S., SOCOLA, J. & ANGEL, R. R. 2007. Great Green Macaws and the annual cycle of their food plants in Ecuador. Journal of Field Ornithology 78:1–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BRIONES-SALAS, M., SÁNCHEZ-CORDERO, V. & SÁNCHEZ-ROJAS, G. 2006. Multi-species fruit and seed removal in a tropical deciduous forest in Mexico. Canadian Journal of Botany 84:433–442.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BULLOCK, S. H. 1986. Climate of Chamela, Jalisco, and trends in the south coastal region of Mexico. Archives of Meteorology, Geophysics, and Bioclimatology, Series B. 36:297–316.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
BULLOCK, S. H. & SOLIS-MAGALLANES, J. A. 1990. Phenology of canopy trees of a tropical deciduous forest in Mexico. Biotropica 22:22–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CAMERON, M. & CUNNINGHAM, R. B. 2006. Habitat selection at multiple scales by foraging Glossy Black-cockatoos. Austral Ecology 31:597–607.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CHAPMAN, C. A., CHAPMAN, L. J., WANGHAM, R., HUNT, K., GEBO, D. L. & GARDNER, L. 1992. Estimators of fruit abundance of tropical trees. Biotropica 24:527–531.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CHEN, T. K., WIEMER, D.F. & HOWARD, J. J. 1984. A volatile leafcutter ant repellent from Astronium graveolens. Naturwissenschaften 71:97–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
COATES-ESTRADA, R., ESTRADA, A. & MERRITT, D. 1993. Foraging by parrots (Amazona autumnalis) on fruits of Stemmadenia donnell-smithii (Apocynaceae) in the tropical rain forest of Los Tuxtlas, Mexico. Journal of Tropical Ecology 9:121–124.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
COLLAR, N. J. & JUNIPER, A. T. 1991. Dimensions and causes of the parrot conservation crisis. Pp. 1–24 in Beissinger, S. R. & Snyder, N. F. R. (eds.). New World parrots in crisis: solutions from conservation biology. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington. 288 pp.Google Scholar
CRAWLEY, M. J. 1992. Seed predators and plant population dynamics. Pp. 157–191 in Fenner, M. (ed.). Seeds: the ecology of regeneration in plant communities. CABI, Wallingford.Google Scholar
CURRAN, L. M. & LEIGHTON, M. 2000. Vertebrate responses to spatiotemporal variation in seed production of mast-fruiting Dipterocarpaceae. Ecological Monographs 70:101–128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DIRZO, R. & MIRANDA, A. 1991. Altered patterns of herbivory and diversity in the forest understory: a case study of the possible consequences of contemporary defaunation. Pp. 273–287 in Price, P. W., Lewinsohn, T. M., Fernandes, G. W. & Benson, W. W. (eds.). Plant-animal interactions: evolutionary ecology in tropical and temperate regions. John Wiley & Sons, Chichester.Google Scholar
FORGET, P. M., KITAJIMA, K. & FOSTER, R. B. 1999. Pre- and post-dispersal seed predation in Tachigali versicolor (Caesalpiniaceae): effects of timing of fruiting and variation among trees. Journal of Tropical Ecology 15:61–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
FRANCISCO, M. R., LUNARDI, V. O., GUIMARÃES, P. R. & GALETTI, M. 2008. Factors affecting seed predation of Eriotheca gracilipes (Bombacaceae) by parakeets in a cerrado fragment. Acta Oecologica 33:240–245.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GALETTI, M. 1993. Diet of the Scaly-headed Parrot (Pionus maximiliani) in a semideciduous forest in southeastern Brazil. Biotropica 25:419–425.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GALETTI, M. & RODRIGUES, M. 1992. Comparative seed predation on pods by parrots in Brazil. Biotropica 24:222–224.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
GUTIÉRREZ-PÉREZ, A. 2005. Disponibilidad y calidad nutritiva de recursos y su relación con la dieta de las crías del loro corona lila (Amazona finschi) en un bosque tropical caducifolio. MSc thesis. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico.Google Scholar
HAUGAASEN, T. 2008. Seed predation of Couratari guianensis (Lecythidaceae) by macaws in central Amazonia, Brazil. Ornitologia Neotropical 19:321–328.Google Scholar
HOWE, H. F. 1980. Monkey dispersal and waste of a neotropical fruit. Ecology 61:944–959.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
HUBBELL, S. P. 1979. Tree dispersion, abundance, and diversity in a tropical dry forest. Science 203:1299–1309.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
HULME, P. E. 2002. Seed-eaters: seed dispersal, destruction and demography. Pp. 257–273 in Levey, D. J., Silva, W. R. & Galetti, M. (eds.). Seed dispersal and frugivory: ecology, evolution and conservation. CABI, Wallingford.Google Scholar
HULME, P. E. & BENKMAN, G. W. 2002. Granivory. Pp. 132–154 in Herrera, C. M. & Pellmyr, O. (eds). Plant-animal interactions. An evolutionary approach. Blackwell Publishing, Oxford.Google Scholar
JANZEN, D. H. 1967. Synchronization of sexual reproduction of trees within the dry season in Central America. Evolution 21:620–637.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
JANZEN, D. H. 1969. Seed-eaters versus seed size, number, toxicity, and dispersal. Evolution 23:1–27.Google ScholarPubMed
JANZEN, D. H. 1980. Specificity of seed attacking beetles in a Costa Rican deciduous forest. Journal of Ecology 68:929–952.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
KELT, D. A., MESERVE, P. L. & GUTIÉRREZ, J. R. 2004. Seed removal by small mammals, birds and ants in semi-arid Chile, and comparison with other systems. Journal of Biogeography 31:931–942.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
KERLEY, G. I. H. 1991. Seed removal by rodents, birds and ants in the semi-arid Karoo, South Africa. Journal of Arid Environments 20:63–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
KLASING, K. C. 1998. Comparative avian nutrition. CABI, New York. 350 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LEIMU, R., KIMMO, S., EHRLÉN, J. & LEHTILÄ, K. 2002. Pre-dispersal seed predation in Primula veris: among-population variation in damage intensity and selection on flower number. Oecologia 133:510–516.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
LISTER, B. C. & GARCÍA-AGUAYO, A. 1992. Seasonality, predation, and the behaviour of a tropical mainland anole. Journal of Animal Ecology 61:717–733.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
LOTT, E. J. 1993. Annotated checklist of the vascular flora of the Chamela Bay region, Jalisco, Mexico. Occasional Papers of the California Academy of Science 148:1–60.Google Scholar
LOTT, E. J., BULLOCK, S. H. & SOLIS-MAGALLANES, J. A. 1987. Floristic diversity and structure of upland and arroyo forests of coastal Jalisco. Biotropica 19:228–235.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
NAKAGAWA, M., TAKEUCHI, Y., TANAKA, K. & NAKASHIZUKA, T. 2005. Predispersal seed predation by insects vs vertebrates in 6 dipterocarp species in Sarawak, Malaysia. Biotropica 37:389–396.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ORTIZ-PULIDO, R. & RICO-GRAY, V. 2000. The effect of spatio-temporal variation in understanding the fruit crop size hypothesis. Oikos 91:523–527.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
PENNINGTON, T. D. & SARUKHAN, J. 2005. Árboles tropicales de México: manual para la identificación de las principales especies. (Third edition). Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico/FCE, Mexico. 523 pp.Google Scholar
POLLOCK, K. H., WINTERSTEIN, S. R., BUNCK, C. M. & CURTIS, P. D. 1989. Survival analysis in telemetry studies: the staggered entry design. Journal of Wildlife Management 53:7–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
QUINN, G. P. & KEOUGH, M. J. 2002. Experimental design and data analysis for biologists. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. 537 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
RENTON, K. 2001. Lilac-crowned Parrot diet and food resource availability: resource tracking by a parrot seed predator. Condor 103:62–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
RENTON, K. 2002. Influence of environmental variability on the growth of Lilac-crowned Parrot nestlings. Ibis 144:331–339.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
RENTON, K. 2006. Diet of adult and nestling Scarlet Macaws in southwest Belize, Central America. Biotropica 38:280–283.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
RENTON, K. & SALINAS-MELGOZA, A. 1999. Nesting behavior of the Lilac-crowned Parrot. Wilson Bulletin 111:488–493.Google Scholar
RZEDOWSKI, J. 1994. Vegetación de México. (Sixth edition). Limusa Noriega Editores, Mexico.Google Scholar
SALLABANKS, R. 1993. Hierarchical mechanisms of fruit selection by an avian frugivore. Ecology 74:1326–1336.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
SARACCO, J. F., COLLAZO, J. A. & GROOM, M. J. 2005. Crop size and fruit neighborhood effects on bird visitation to fruiting Schefflera morototoni trees in Puerto Rico. Biotropica 37:80–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
TERBORGH, J., ROBINSON, S. K., PARKER, T. A., MUNN, C. A. & PIERPONT, N. 1990. Structure and organization of an Amazonian forest bird community. Ecological Monographs 60:213–238.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
TRIVEDI, M. R., CORNEJO, F. H. & WATKINSON, A. R. 2004. Seed predation on Brazil nuts (Bertholletia excelsa) by macaws (Psittacidae) in Madre de Dios, Peru. Biotropica 36:118–122.Google Scholar
WESTERMAN, P. R., HOFMAN, A., VET, L. E. M. & VAN DER WERF, W. 2003. Relative importance of vertebrates and invertebrates in epigaeic weed seed predation in organic cereal fields. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 95:417–425.CrossRefGoogle Scholar