Effects of hunting of frugivorous vertebrates on seed dispersal in Amazonian forests of the Madre de Dios River basin, Peru
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55873/gentryana.v1i2.220Keywords:
defaunation, diversity of forest species, empty forest, fleshy fruits, Madre de Dios, TambopataAbstract
Vertebrate frugivores in Amazon forests face strong hunting pressure in the present day, and their reduction or disappearance could trigger major changes within the forest ecosystem. We present the results of a study on the seed dispersal of tree species consumed by arboreal frugivores in three mature floodplain forest sites located in the Madre de Dios River Basin that represent a gradient of disturbance and vertebrate frugivore densities. At each site, a ~1 hectare (104 x 104m) area of primary forest was selected in which 196 seed traps were installed, evenly distributed across 14 rows and columns. Every 15 days over a 135-month period, seeds of forest species with fleshy fruits were collected, identified, and recorded. We present the data analyzed for 10 common tree species (7 families) dispersed mainly by primates, birds, or frugivorous bats. Our results indicate that the reduction of large frugivore density affects the dispersal of tree species that depend primarily on these species, whereas other tree species that do not rely on hunted frugivorous species are unaffected. It is necessary to conduct further long-term studies for a more rigorous evaluation of the consequences of the disappearance of large frugivorous vertebrates on the regeneration ecology of the forests in the Madre de Dios region.
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