| Title: | Defaunation and habitat disturbance interact synergistically to alter seedling recruitment |
| Author(s): | Granados A; Brodie JF; Bernard H; O'Brien MJ; |
| Address: | "Department of Zoology and Biodiversity Research Centre, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 1Z4, Canada. Division of Biological Sciences and Wildlife Biology Program, University of Montana, Missoula, Montana, 59812, USA. Institute for Tropical Biology and Conservation, University Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia. Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas, Estacion Experimental de Zonas Aridas, Carretera de Sacramento s/n, E-04120, La Canada, Almeria, Spain. The South East Asia Rainforest Research Partnership, Danum Valley Field Centre, P.O. Box 60282, 91112, Lahad Datu, Sabah, Malaysia" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1051-0761 (Print) 1051-0761 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "Vertebrate granivores destroy plant seeds, but whether animal-induced seed mortality alters plant recruitment varies with habitat context, seed traits, and among granivore species. An incomplete understanding of seed predation makes it difficult to predict how widespread extirpations of vertebrate granivores in tropical forests might affect tree communities, especially in the face of habitat disturbance. Many tropical forests are simultaneously affected by animal loss as well as habitat disturbance, but the consequences of each for forest regeneration are often studied separately or additively, and usually on a single plant demographic stage. The combined impacts of these threats could affect plant recruitment in ways that are not apparent when studied in isolation. We used wire cages to exclude large (elephants), medium, (sambar deer, bearded pigs, muntjac deer), and small (porcupines, chevrotains) ground-dwelling mammalian granivores and herbivores in logged and unlogged forests in Malaysian Borneo. We assessed the interaction between habitat disturbance (selective logging) and experimental defaunation on seed survival, germination, and seedling establishment in five dominant dipterocarp tree species spanning a 21-fold gradient in seed size. Granivore-induced seed mortality was consistently higher in logged forest. Germination of unpredated seeds was reduced in logged forest and in the absence of small to large-bodied mammals. Experimental defaunation increased germination and reduced seed removal but had little effect on seed survival. Seedling recruitment however, was more likely where logging and animal loss occurred together. The interacting effects of logging and hunting could therefore, actually increase seedling establishment, suggesting that the loss of mammals in disturbed forest could have important consequences for forest regeneration and composition" |
| Keywords: | Animals Borneo Dipterocarpaceae/growth & development/*physiology *Forestry Forests *Germination *Herbivory Longevity Malaysia Mammals/physiology Population Dynamics Seedlings/growth & development/physiology Trees/growth & development/*physiology defaunati; |
| Notes: | "MedlineGranados, Alys Brodie, Jedediah F Bernard, Henry O'Brien, Michael J eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't 2017/07/01 Ecol Appl. 2017 Oct; 27(7):2092-2101. doi: 10.1002/eap.1592. Epub 2017 Sep 5" |
