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The Asian elephant is amongst the top three frugivores of two tree species with easily edible fruit

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 July 2015

Nitin Sekar  and
Raman Sukumar
Nitin Sekar*
Affiliation:
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA08540 Center for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India560012
Raman Sukumar
Affiliation:
Center for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India560012
*
1Corresponding author. Email: nitin.sekar@gmail.com
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Abstract:

Large animal species are prone to local extirpation, but ecologists cannot yet predict how the loss of megaherbivores affects ecosystem processes such as seed dispersal. Few studies have compared the quantity and quality of seed dispersal by megaherbivores versus alternative frugivores in the wild, particularly for plant species with fruit easily consumed by many frugivorous species. In a disturbed tropical moist forest in India, we examine whether megaherbivores are a major frugivore of two tree species with easily edible, mammal-dispersed fruit. We quantify the relative fruit removal rates of Artocarpus chaplasha and Careya arborea, by the Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) and alternative dispersers. Through focal watches and camera trapping, we found the elephant to be amongst the top three frugivores for each tree species. Furthermore, seed transects under A. chaplasha show that arboreal frugivores discard seeds only a short distance from the parental tree, underscoring the elephant's role as a long-distance disperser. Our data provide unprecedented support for an old notion: megaherbivores may be key dispersers for a broad set of mammal-dispersed fruiting species, and not just fruit inaccessible to smaller frugivores. As such, the elephant may be particularly important for the functional ecology of the disturbed forests it still inhabits across tropical Asia.

Keywords

Artocarpus chaplashaBuxa Tiger ReserveCareya arboreadomestic bovidsfrugivoryElephas maximusfunctional ecologyMacaca mulattarhesus macaques
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 31 , Issue 5 , September 2015 , pp. 385 - 394
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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