Plant-frugivore interactions in an intact tropical forest in north-east Thailand  

作　　者：Wangworn SANKAMETHAWEE Andrew J.PIERCE George A.GALE Britta Denise HARDESTY 

机构地区：[1]Conservation Ecology Program,School of Bioresources and Technology,King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi,Bangkok Thailand [2]Walai Rukhavej Botanical Research Institute,Mahasarakham University,Mahasarakham,Thailand [3]CSIRO Ecosystem Sciences,Atherton,Queensland,Australia

出　　处：《Integrative Zoology》2011年第3期195-212,共18页整合动物学（英文版）

基　　金：This work was supported by a King Mongkut’s Univer-sity of Technology Thonburi Research Grant through the National Research Council Thailand and BRT_346004.

摘　　要：Fleshy-fruited plants in tropical forests largely rely on vertebrate frugivores to disperse their seeds.Although this plant-animal interaction is typically considered a diffuse mutualism,it is fundamental as it provides the template on which tropical forest communities are structured.We applied a mutualistic network approach to investigate the relationship between small-fruited fleshy plant species and the fruit-eating bird community in an intact evergreen forest in north-east Thailand.A minimum of 53 bird species consumed fruits of 136 plant species.Plant-avian frugivore networks were highly asymmetrical,with observed networks filling 30%of all potential links.Whereas some of the missing links in the present study might be due to undersampling,forbidden links can be attributed to size constraints,accessibility and phenological uncoupling,and although the majority of missing links were unknown(58.2%),many were probably due to a given bird species being either rare or only a very occasional fruit eater.The most common frugivores were bulbuls,barbets and fairy-bluebirds,which were responsible for the majority of fruit removal from small fleshy fruited species in our system.Migratory birds seemed to be a minor component of the plant-frugivore networks,accounting for only 3%of feeding visits to fruiting trees;they filled 2%of the overall potential networks.The majority of interactions were generalized unspecific;however,Saurauia roxburghii Wall.appeared to be dependent on flowerpeckers for dispersal,while Thick-billed Pigeons were only seen to eat figs.

关 键 词：avian frugivore NESTEDNESS plant-frugivore networks seed dispersal tropical forest 

分 类 号：S71[农业科学—林学]