Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-tj2md Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T10:24:33.369Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Vertebrate predation of Brazil-nuts (Bertholletia excelsa, Lecythidaceae), an agouti-dispersed Amazonian seed crop: a test of the escape hypothesis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

Carlos A. Peres ,
Luís C. Schiesari  and
Cláudia L. Dias-Leme
Carlos A. Peres
Affiliation:
Centre for Social and Economic Research on the Global Environment, School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK
Luís C. Schiesari
Affiliation:
Departments of Zoology, University of Sāo Paulo, Sāo Paulo, Brazil
Cláudia L. Dias-Leme
Affiliation:
Departments of Botany, University of Sāo Paulo, Sāo Paulo, Brazil
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The effects of escape distance to parental trees and tree clusters on the removal of Brazil-nut seeds (Bertholletia excelsa, Lecythidaceae) by vertebrate seed predators were examined in an entirely undisturbed stand of Brazil-nut trees of eastern Amazonia. Population density estimates, based on line-transect censuses, are also presented for Bertholletia trees and agoutis (Dasyprocta leporina), the most important scatterhoarder and seed predator of Brazil-nuts at this site. Seed removal experiments were conducted within and outside a natural Bertholletia tree cluster (castanhal) during both the wet and dry seasons. While there were no within-cluster effects of escape distance from parent trees on seed removal rates, overall seed removal within the cluster was significantly greater than that well outside the cluster. Moreover, removal rates in the wet season were consistently higher than those in the dry season both within and outside the tree cluster. Results suggest that the probability of early seed survival for Bertholletia, in relation to distance to seed sources, operates on different spatial scales, and that seed predators allocate greater foraging effort to scattered seeds during the fruitfall (wet) season, when buried seed stocks are being cached by agoutis.

Keywords

Berthollelia excelsaBrazil-nutsDasyproctaagoutisseed predationescape hypothesis
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 13 , Issue 1 , January 1997 , pp. 69 - 79
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1997

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

Armstrong, R. S. 1989. Competition, seed predation, and species coexistence. Journal of Theoretical Biology 141:191–195.Google Scholar
Balee, W. & Campbell, D. G. 1990. Evidence for the successional status of liana forest (Xinguriver basin, Amazonian Brazil). Biotropica 22:36–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Buckley, S. T., Anderson, D. R., Burnham, K. P. & Laake, J. L. 1993. Distance sampling: estimating abundances of biological populations. Chapman & Hall, London. 446 pp.Google Scholar
Burkey, T. V. 1994. Tropical tree species diversity: a test of the Janzen-Connell model. Oecologia 97:533–540.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cant, J. G. H. 1977. A census of the agouti (Dasyprocta punctata) in seasonally dry forest at Tikal, Guatemala, with some comments on strip censusing. Journal of Mammalogy 58:688–690.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, D. A. & Clark, D. B. 1984. Spacing dynamics of a tropical rain forest tree: evaluation of the Janzen-Connell model. American Naturalist 124:769–788.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Connell, J. H. 1971. On the role of natural enemies in preventing competitive exclusion in some marine animals and rain forest trees. Pp. 298–312 in den Boer, P. J. & Grandwell, P. R. (eds.). Dynamics of populations. PUDOC, Wageningen, The Netherlands.Google Scholar
Dobson, A. J. 1990. An introduction to generalized linear models. Chapman and Hall, London. 180 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dubost, G. 1988. Ecology and social life of the red acouchy, Myoprocta exilis; comparison with the orange-rumped agouti, Dasyprocta leporina. Journal of Zoology, London 214:107–123.Google Scholar
Emmons, L. H. & Feer, F. 1990. Neotropical rainforest mammals: a field guide. University of Chicago Press, Chicago. 281 pp.Google Scholar
Forget, P.-M. 1990. Seed-dispersal of Voucapoua americana (Caesalpiniaceae) by caviomorph rodents in French Guiana. Journal of Tropical Ecology 32:155–167.Google Scholar
Forget, P.-M. 1992. Regeneration ecology of Eperua grandiflora (Caesalpiniaceae), a large-seeded tree in French Guiana. Biotropica 24:146–156.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Forget, P.-M. 1994. Recruitment pattern of Voucapoua americana (Caesalpiniaceae), a rodent-dispersed tree in French Guiana. Biotropica 26:408–419.Google Scholar
Hallwachs, W. 1986. Agoutis (Dasyprocta puctata): the inheritors of guapinol (Hymenaea courbaril. Leguminosae). Pp. 285–304 in Estrada, A. & Fleming, T. (eds.). Frugivores and seed dispersal. Dr Junk Publishers, The Hague. 392 pp.Google Scholar
Howe, H. F. & Smallwood, J. 1982. Ecology of seed dispersal. Annual Review of Ecology Systematics 13:201–218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howe, H. F., Schupp, E. W. & Westley, L. C. 1985. Early consequences of seed dispersal for a neotropical tree (Virola surinamensis). Ecology 66:781–791.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huber, J. 1910. Matas e madeiras amazônicas. Boletim do Museu Paraense de História Natural 6:91–225.Google Scholar
Janson, C. H. & Emmons, L. H. 1990. Ecological structure of the non-flying mammal community at the Cocha Cashu Biological Station, Manu National Park, Peru. Pp. 314–338 in Gentry, A. (ed.). Four neotropical rainforests. Yale University Press, New Haven, Connecticut. 627 pp.Google Scholar
Janzen, D. H. 1970. Herbivores and the number of tree species in tropical forests. American Naturalist 104:501–528.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kitamura, P. C. & Muller, C. H. 1984. Castanhais nativos de Marabá-PA: fatores de depredação e bases para a sua preservação. EMBRAPA, Centro de Pesquisas Agropecuárias do Trópico Úmido. Documentos 30:1–31.Google Scholar
LaFleur, J. 1991. Estrutura produtiva e beneficiamento da castanha. Simpósio Alternativas Econômicas para as Reservas Extrativistas, Rio Branco, Acre. Instituto de Estudos Amazônicos, Curitiba.Google Scholar
Mori, S. A. & Prance, G. T. 1990. Taxonomy, ecology, and economic botany of the Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa Humb. & Bonbl.: Lecythidaceae). Advances in Economic Botany 8:130–150.Google Scholar
Moritz, A. 1984. Estudos biológicos da floração e da frutificação da Castanha-do-Brasil (Bertholletia excelsa H.B.K.), Belém, Brazil. EMBRAPA, Centro de Pesquisas Agropecuárias do Trópico Umido. Documentos 29:1–82.Google Scholar
Morris, D. 1962. The behaviour of the green acouchi (Myoprocta pratti) with special reference to scatter hoarding. Zoological Society of London Proceedings 139:701–733.Google Scholar
Müller, C. H. 1981. Castanha-do-Brasil. estudos agronômicos. EMBRAPA, Centro de Pesquisas Agropecuárias do Trópico Úmido. Documentos 1:1–25.Google Scholar
Müller, C. H. & Calzavara, B. B. G. 1989. Castanha-do-Brasil: recomendações basicas. EMBRAPA-CPATU, Belém, Brazil.Google Scholar
Murie, J. O. 1977. Cues used for cache finding by agouti (Dasyprocta punctata). Journal of Mammalogy 58:95–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peres, C. A. 1991. Seed predation of Cariniana micrantha (Lecythidaceae) by brown capuchin monkeys in central Amazonia. Biotropica 23:262–270.Google Scholar
Peres, C. A. in press. Nonvolant mammal community structure in different Amazonian forest types. in Eisenberg, J. F. (ed.). Mammals of the Neotropics, Vol. 3. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.Google Scholar
Prance, G. T. & Mori, S. A. 1979. Lecythidaceae – Part I. The actinomorphic-flowered New World Lecythidaceae (Asteranthos, Gustavia, Grias, Allantoma & Cariniana). Flora Neotropica 21:1–270.Google Scholar
Radam, . 1974. Projeto RADAMBRASIL, Vol. 4. Folha SB–22 (Araguaia) e parte da folha SC-22 (Tocantins). Instituto Brasileiro de Geografia e Estatística, Rio de Janeiro.Google Scholar
Sanchez, J. S. 1973. Explotación y comercialización de la castanã en Madre de Dios. Ministerio de Agricultura, Dirección General de Forestal y Caza, Informe No. 30. Lima, Peru.Google Scholar
Schupp, E. W. 1992. The Janzen-Connell model for tropical free diversity: population implications and the importance of spatial scale. American Naturalist 140:526–530.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smythe, N. A. 1978. The natural history of the Central American agouti (Dasyprocta punctata). Smithsonian Contributions to Zoology 257:1–52.Google Scholar
Terborgh, J. 1988. The big things that run the world – a sequel to E. O. Wilson. Conservation Biology 2:402–403.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Terborgh, J., Losos, E., Riley, M. P. & Riley, M. B. 1993. Predation by vertebrates and invertebrates on the seeds of five canopy tree species of an Amazonian forest. Vegetatio 107/108:375–386.Google Scholar
Viana, V. M., Mello, R. A., Morais, L. M. & Mendes, N. T. in press. Ecology and management of Brazil nut populations in Extractive Reserves in Xapurí, Acre. Biotropica.Google Scholar
Wright, S. J. 1983. The dispersion of eggs by a bruchid beetle among Scheelia palm seeds and the effect of distance to the parent palm. Ecology 64:1016–1021.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wright, S. J., Gompper, M. E. & DeLeon, . 1994. Are large predators keystone species in neotropical forests? The evidence from Barro Colorado Island. Oikos 71:279–294.Google Scholar