Granivorous Birds as Potentially Important Post-dispersal Seed Predators in a Brazilian Forest Fragment

• Published in: Biotropica Vol. 36; no. 3; pp. 417 - 423
• Main Authors: Pizo, Marco A., Vieira, Emerson M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Association for Tropical Biology and Conservation 01.09.2004
• Subjects: Atlantic Forest; Birds; Birds of prey; Brazil; Croton; Croton priscus; Deciduous forests; Forest ecology; Forest fragmentation; habitat fragmentation; herbivores; Mammals; population density; Predators; Rodents; seed dispersal; seed predation; SHORT COMMUNICATIONS; small mammals; Tropical forests; Tropical rain forests; wild birds; Brazil
• ISSN: 0006-3606; 1744-7429
• DOI: 10.1646/03040

In tropical forests, rodents exert a prominent role as post-dispersal seed predators, while other vertebrates apparently have a minor effect on seed predation. In some forest fragments in southeast Brazil, however, the density of rodents is unusually low, whereas terrestrial granivorous birds are abundant. In this study, we used seeds of a second-growth tree (Croton priscus, Euphorbiaceae) to investigate experimentally the relative importance of rodents and birds as seed predators in a forest fragment. We also estimated the density of terrestrial granivorous birds and trapped small mammals. Results indicate that, as a consequence of decreased rodent population and increased bird abundance, the latter are at least as important as the former as the main post-dispersal seed predators of C. priscus. We interpret such apparent imbalance in the interaction between C. priscus and their seed predators as a possible consequence of forest fragmentation.