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Seed consumption and dispersal of ant-dispersed plants by slugs

机译:对蚂蚁散布植物的种子消耗和散布

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In beech-dominated forests in Central Europe, many spring geophytes show adaptations to seed dispersal by ants (myrmecochory). Ants, however, can be rare in such moist forests. Motivated by observations of slug feeding on seeds we investigated the seed consumption of two plant species, Anemone nemorosa and Asarum europaeum, by slugs, in a series of experiments. In a seed predation experiment in a beech forest, we found that seed removal was strongly reduced when gastropods were excluded from the seed depots. The contribution of insects, including ants, and rodents to seed removal was relatively less but differed between May and July. In the laboratory, slug species, in particular Arion sp., consumed seeds of both plant species. Slugs either consumed the elaiosomes of seeds or swallowed seeds intact. Swallowed seeds were defecated undamaged and germinated as well as control seeds when buried overwinter, indicating the potential for seed dispersal by slugs. We also recovered seeds of myrmecochores in the faeces of several slugs caught in forests. In a slug release experiment in the forest, slugs moved up to 14.6 m (mean 4.4 m) in 15 h, which is the median gut passage time of seeds based on measurements made in the laboratory. We also found that when slug-defecated seeds were offered to rodents, these were less attractive than control seeds, suggesting that passage through the slug gut reduces seed predation risk. Our results demonstrate that slugs are significant consumers of elaiosomes or entire seeds of ant-dispersed plants and that they can function as seed dispersers of these plants.
机译:在中欧的山毛榉为主的森林中,许多春季地理植物显示出对蚂蚁散播种子的适应(防线虫)。但是,在这种潮湿的森林中,蚂蚁可能很少见。通过观察以为食的种子,我们在一系列实验中研究了对两种植物物种海葵,海葵和欧洲细辛的种子消耗量。在山毛榉森林的种子捕食实验中,我们发现当腹足动物被从种子库中排除时,种子去除率大大降低。昆虫(包括蚂蚁和啮齿动物)对去除种子的贡献相对较少,但在5月和7月之间有所不同。在实验室中,类物种,特别是Arion sp。,消耗了两种植物物种的种子。消耗了种子的弹性体或吞下了完整的种子。掩埋的越冬时,吞咽的种子排便完好无损并发芽,而对照种子则发芽,这表明可能散布种子。我们还从森林中捕获的数种的粪便中回收了豆科动物的种子。在森林中的释放实验中,在15小时内移动到14.6 m(平均4.4 m),这是根据实验室测量的种子中位肠道通过时间的中位数。我们还发现,当给啮齿动物提供小块便后的种子时,这些种子的吸引力不如对照种子,这表明通过小块肠的传播降低了种子捕食的风险。我们的结果表明,是蚂蚁分散植物的弹性体或整个种子的重要消费者,它们可以充当这些植物的种子分散剂。

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