Title
Spatial patterns of primary seed dispersal and adult tree distributions: Genipa americana dispersed by Cebus capucinus
Author(s)
Valenta, K.;Hopkins, M.E.;Meeking, M.;Chapman, C.A.;Fedigan, L.M.
Published
2015
Publisher
Journal of Tropical Ecology
Abstract
The spatial distribution of adult trees is typically not expected to reflect the spatial patterns of primary seed dispersal, due to many factors influencing post-dispersal modification of the seed shadow, such as seed predation, secondary seed dispersal and density-dependent survival. Here, we test the hypothesis that spatial distributions of primary seed shadows and adult trees are concordant by analysing the spatial distributions of adult Genipa americana trees and the seed shadow produced by its key primary disperser, the capuchin monkey (Cebus capucinus) in a tropical dry forest in Costa Rica. We mapped the dispersal of G. americana seeds by the capuchins during focal animal follows (mean = 463 min, n = 50) of all adults in one free-ranging group over two early wet seasons (May–July, 2005 and 2006). We mapped the locations of all G. americana trees within a 60-ha plot that lay within the home range of the capuchin group. We conducted multiple spatial point pattern analyses comparing degrees of clustering of capuchin defecations and G. americana trees. We found that adult tree distributions and primary dispersal patterns are similarly aggregated at multiple spatial scales, despite the modification of the primary dispersal patterns and long dispersal distances.
Keywords
aggregation;clumped distribution;Costa Rica;post dispersal mortality;secondary dispersal;seed dispersal
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PUB15749