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126 results for “seed predation.”

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dryad36/100

Data from: Induced phenological avoidance: a neglected defense mechanism against seed predation in plants

1. Flowering phenology is an important life history trait affecting plant reproductive performance and is influenced by various abiotic and biotic factors. Pre-dispersal seed predation and pollination are expected to impose counteracting selection pressure on flowering phenology, with pre-dispersal seed predation expected to favor off-peak flowering and pollination to favor synchronous flowering. 2. Here we studied the effect of pre-dispersal seed predation by the beetle Byturus ochraceus, a specialist seed herbivore, on the flowering phenology of Geum urbanum. This forest understorey plant species is self-pollinating, so that the influence of seed predation can be studied independent from pollination. We measured in detail the timing and predation rate of individual flowers during two consecutive years in more than 60 individuals. We tested the hypotheses that pre-dispersal seed predation exerts selection for within-season compensatory flowering as well as for induced phenological avoidance in the following season. 3. We found no indication for compensatory flowering within a growing season, but plants that experienced predation shifted their flowers to the end of the flowering season the subsequent year. This induced phenological avoidance points to a plastic response to pre-dispersal seed predation that may be adaptive. Importantly, the delay in flower production came at a cost, since flowers later in the season had a reduced seed output, presumably because of increasing light limitation following forest canopy closure. 4. Synthesis: Herbivory by specialist enemies can cause serious fitness decline in hosts. We here show that induced shifts in phenology can form an important defense strategy against pre-dispersal seed predation. The induced mismatches between herbivore and host phenology are anticipated to be adaptive when herbivory is predictable across successive flowering periods.

opencc-zeroNov 2019View details →

dryad36/100

Data from: Do benefits of seed dispersal and caching by scatterhoarders outweigh the costs of predation? An example with oaks and yellow-necked mice

Numerous interactions between plants and animals vary in their outcome between antagonism and mutualism. Interactions between plants and scatterhoarding animals provide a prime example of this phenomenon. Scatterhoarders consume large quantities of seeds (potentially reducing plant establishment), yet also disperse seeds and bury them in shallow caches (potentially improving recruitment). Despite intense work on mechanisms that cause these interactions to shift along an antagonism-mutualism continuum, it remains difficult to quantify their final outcomes. We demonstrate how readily available field data can be used to reach this goal, with interactions between rodents and two oaks species (sessile oak Quercus petraea, and red oak Q. rubra) as an empirical example. Our approach consists of quantifying the net outcome of the interaction through collecting data on different vital rates (e.g. probability that cached seeds survive to germination, probability of seedling recruitment with and without rodents; near and far from conspecific trees; with and without seed pilferage) and assembling them in a simple mathematical model. We found that during the period of the study, interactions between scatterhoarding rodents and both focal oaks were antagonistic. Even though caching increased the likelihood of seedling establishment, this effect was not strong enough to compensate for the costs of seed predation. Furthermore, there was no evidence that the short-distance transportation that is usually provided by small mammals benefited early oak recruitment. Synthesis. Our empirical results demonstrated that certain common assumptions -- that caching by rodents invariably benefits plant recruitment; that improved seedling establishment after seed burial is sufficient to make plant-scatterhoarder interactions mutualistic; that transportation away from maternal plants is highly beneficial -- do not always hold and should be tested rather than taken for granted.

opencc-zeroOct 2019View details →

dryad36/100

Frugivory and seed predation of fishtail palm (Caryota mitis Lour.) on the remote oceanic island of Narcondam, India

Oceanic islands, due to their evolutionary history and isolation, play a dual role of having high endemicity and being vulnerable to extinctions, with most known extinctions occurring on islands. Plant–animal interactions are particularly important on islands, as island systems generally have low redundancy and are more vulnerable to disruption either via extinction or by invasive species. Here, we examined the fruit removal and seed predation of a keystone palm, Caryota mitis, on Narcondam, a remote oceanic island. The island endemic Narcondam Hornbill (Rhyticeros narcondami) was the sole seed disperser of the palm (90 hours; N = 15 trees), with mean (± SE) visitation rate being 0.23 (± 0.06) individuals per hour and fruit removal rates of 3.5 (± 1.5; range: 0–16) fruits per visit, indicating a lack of redundancy in seed dispersal of the palm on this island. Whereas the invasive rodent, Rattus cf. tiomanicus, was the sole predator of palm seeds (N = 15 individual fruiting palms, 416 trap nights). Overall, 17.1% of the seeds placed (N = 375 seeds) were removed. Seeds placed under and away from the canopy, and at different densities (2 plots with 10 seeds each; 1 plot with 5 seeds, respectively), showed similar removal rates. This indicates density-independent seed predation and the lack of safe regeneration sites for Caryota mitis, with potential deleterious effects on subsequent stages of the 'seed dispersal cycle'. Here, from a data-deficient site, we provide baseline information on the plant–frugivore interaction of a keystone palm and the potential impacts of an invasive rodent.

opencc-zeroMar 2024View details →

dryad36/100

Flowering, seed production, predation and recruitment of Posidonia australis

The drivers and bottlenecks of sexual reproduction in seagrasses are a crucial element in their conservation and restoration, determining resilience over ecological and evolutionary timescales. We collected flowering, seed production, and seedling establishment data for the seagrass Posidonia australis annually between 2013-2018 in meadows at six locations around Rottnest Island, Western Australia. We present data on inflorescence and vegetative shoot density, reproductive effort, flower and seed density, seed to ovule ratio, seed predation, and seedling survival. We found variable annual rates of flowering and seed production among meadows and between years. Some meadows, however, flowered more intensely and produced more seeds across the years of the survey. Inter-site and inter-annual variation in seed production, the stochastic nature of weather during seed release, and the large, but variable, impact of seed predation are likely the principle drivers of successful recruitment into established meadows and in colonising unvegetated sands. We propose that for the long-lived and persistent P. australis, variable annual reproductive investment increases the probability of low levels of continuous recruitment from seed in this seagrass, despite high rates of abiotic and biotic disturbance at seedling, shoot and patch scales.

opencc-zeroJul 2022View details →

zenodo36/100

Pericarpial nectary-visiting ants do not provide fruit protection against pre-dispersal seed predators regardless of ant species composition and resource availability

This dataset describes the number of flowers, fruits and seed set of Tocoyena formosa in branches exposed (control) and isolated (ant exclusion) from ants, as well as the visiting ants and seed predators reared from fruits collected from both treatments.

opencc-by-4.0Nov 2017View details →

dryad36/100

A non-native earthworm shifts the seed predation dynamics of a native weed

Seed predators both consume and disperse seeds, with important consequences for the population dynamics of many plant species. The net effect of multiple seed predators depends on the relative proportion of the seed pool each predator obtains, and this proportion should reflect species-specific habitat preferences. We studied the effect of the non-native earthworm, Lumbricus terrestris, on seed loss dynamics in the native weed, Ambrosia trifida (giant ragweed). Giant ragweed seeds are predated by mice, but L. terrestris may protect the seeds against rodent predation by caching them in its burrows. We investigated these interactions, as well as how environmental factors affected net seed losses by competing seed predators. A two-year field study was conducted in which we measured removal of experimentally dispersed giant ragweed seeds by earthworms and mice in habitats varying in plant cover. We analyzed the relative proportion of seeds taken by each species under the varying experimental conditions. Species-specific responses to abiotic conditions and plant cover drove variation in the share of seeds taken by earthworms versus mice, with earthworms gaining relatively more seeds under warmer, wetter conditions and low plant cover habitats, and mice obtaining more seeds under colder, drier conditions and high plant cover habitats. Plant cover and weather conditions also determined which predator species accessed seeds first, and this conferred a competitive advantage that was compounded over time. Earthworms cached some seeds under all experimental conditions, suggesting that L. terrestris can act mutualistically with giant ragweed by making seeds inaccessible to rodent seed predators. Synthesis and applications. Our results support the view that interactions among the environment and competing seed predators determine the fate of seed pools. The data also support the hypothesis that L. terrestris facilitates giant ragweed by competing with mice for giant ragweed seeds, likely contributing to its spread across the landscape and hindering effective weed management. Lumbricus terrestris is prevalent throughout temperate regions and may similarly affect seed predation dynamics of other large-seeded species, impacting plant communities across a range of habitats.

opencc-zeroSep 2021View details →

dryad36/100

Data for: Exploitation competition between seed predators and dispersers introduced to Hawaiian forests

Exploitation competition occurs when one group of organisms reduces the availability of a resource for another group of organisms. For instance, plants produce a certain number of fruits for seed dispersal by fruit-eating animals (hereafter frugivores), and fruit consumption by one group of frugivores can reduce the number of fruits available for other frugivores. However, it is uncertain whether exploitation competition is common among frugivores, particularly in novel ecosystems, where food resources are generally thought to be abundant and invasive species are dietary generalists. In a novel ecosystem in Hawai'i, we used gut passage experiments with captive birds to identify roles of introduced frugivores and found they were either distinctly seed dispersers or predators. We then experimentally tested how frugivory by seed predators influenced frugivory by seed dispersers. Specifically, we used exclosures around fruiting plants that blocked seed predator access, while permitting seed disperser access, and we had two control treatments that allowed for access by all frugivores (n=139 plants). When seed predators were excluded from plants, there was more frugivory by dispersers compared to controls, and results varied by year and plant species. Overall, we show that introduced frugivores occupied distinct ecological roles (seed predator or seed disperser), exploitation competition occurred between these introduced frugivore groups, and seed predators had both direct (via seed destruction) and indirect (via reduction in frugivory by dispersers) effects on seed dispersal. Thus, in this novel ecosystem, multiple frugivory is subtractive, and competition for fruit between introduced seed predators and seed dispersers scales up to affect invasions and the conservation of native flora.

opencc-zeroMar 2023View details →

dryad36/100