Linking fruit traits to variation in predispersal vertebrate seed predation, insect seed predation, and pathogen attack

• Published in: Ecology (Durham) Vol. 92; no. 11; pp. 2131 - 2140
• Main Authors: Beckman, Noelle G, Helene C. Muller-Landau
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Ecological Society of America 01.11.2011
• Subjects: adverse effects; Anacardium excelsum; Animals; canopy; Castilla elastica; Feeding Behavior - physiology; Fruit - physiology; fruiting; fungi; fungicides; Fungicides, Industrial - pharmacology; Germination; Insecta - physiology; insecticides; insects; invertebrates; mortality; natural enemies; Panama; plant communities; Plant Diseases - microbiology; plant pathogens; prediction; reproduction; seed germination; seed predation; seedling growth; seedlings; seeds; Seeds - physiology; species diversity; Species Specificity; tropical forests; vertebrates; Vertebrates - physiology; viability

The importance of vertebrates, invertebrates, and pathogens for plant communities has long been recognized, but their absolute and relative importance in early recruitment of multiple coexisting tropical plant species has not been quantified. Further, little is known about the relationship of fruit...