Effect of frugivorous birds on the establishment of a naturally regenerating population of Chinese yew in ex situ conservation  

作　　者：Changhu LU Qiongqiong ZHU Qingshan DENG 

机构地区：[1]College of Forestry Resource and Environment,Nanjing Forestry University,Nanjing 210037,China

出　　处：《Integrative Zoology》2008年第3期186-193,共8页整合动物学（英文版）

基　　金：the National Natural Science Foundation of China(No.30170165).

摘　　要：The Chinese yew Taxus chinensis is catalogued as an endangered species in China because of the small size andsenescent status of most populations. Its lack of natural regeneration is the most important reason for its endangeredstatus. We investigated the regeneration of an ex-situ conservation population, which was introduced intothe Nanjing Botanical Garden Memorial Sun Yat-Sen in the 1950s, and evaluated the role of frugivorous birds on theestablishment of this regenerating population. Two hundred and thirteen individual yew seedlings and saplingswere found on the hillside in 2006, and the nearest seedling was found more than 10 m away from mother trees. Thespatial pattern of all seedlings and saplings occurred as a clumped distribution, which is typical for vertebratedispersedplants. Six bird species were seen ingesting whole “fruits” at yew trees in the present study and 745 visitsby avian frugivores were recorded. Red-billed blue magpie (Urocissa erythrorhyncha), Chinese bulbul (Pycnonotussinensis) and azure-winged magpie (Cyanopica cyana) were the most frequent visitors over the two years of thestudy. Comparing the flights of departure and perching habitats of the three main bird species, we inferred that U.erythrorhyncha would be the most important disperser. This regeneration population has had good developmentover the past 20 or more years;frugivorous birds have removed seeds to the hillside every year until now, and seedgermination and seedling growth continue to develop well under natural conditions. We suggest that the conservationsystem of the Chinese yew should be composed of yews, avian dispersers and habitats for seed germinationand seedling growth.

关 键 词：Chinese yew ex-situ conservation frugivorous birds natural regeneration Taxus chinensis 

分 类 号：Q94[生物学—植物学]