Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-fnpn6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-31T02:40:02.516Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Dispersal of Acacia seeds by ungulates and ostriches in an African savanna

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

Maxine F. Miller
Maxine F. Miller
Affiliation:
NERC Centre for Population Ecology, Imperial College, Silwood Park, Ascot, Berkshire, SL5 7PY, UK and Mammal Research Institute, Zoology Department, Pretoria University, Pretoria 0001, South Africa
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The dispersal of African Acacia seeds in the presence and absence of large mammalian herbivores and ostriches was assessed in a savanna ecosystem in South Africa. In the absence of large herbivores, A. tortilis and A. nilotica pods were mainly dispersed in the shade, directly beneath the tree crown and seeds remained in pods for over 18 months. In the presence of large herbivores, A. tortilis, A. nilotica and A. karroo seeds were freed from pods and were dispersed into open, non-shaded habitats. Impala dispersed most A. tortilis seeds (18,900 ha−1), giraffe most A. nilotica seeds (1060 ha−1) and giraffe and kudu most A. karroo seeds (452 and 448 ha−1, respectively). Seedling survival in dung in open environments may exceed that of seedlings in soil shaded beneath the tree crown. It appears that seed dispersal by large herbivores may be advantageous to future seedling recruitment.

Keywords

Acacia seedsdispersalSouth Africaungulate dung
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 12 , Issue 3 , May 1996 , pp. 345 - 356
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

LITERATURE CITED

Aitkin, M., Anderson, D., Francis, B. & Hinde, J. 1990. Statistical modelling in GLIM. Clarendon Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Baharav, D. 1980. Habitat utilization of the dorcas gazelle in a desert saline area. Journal of Arid Environments 3:161–167.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coe, M. 1985. The Acacia and its interactions with animals. International Zoological News 193:5–11.Google Scholar
Coe, M. & Beentje, H. 1991. A field guide to the Acacias of Kenya. Oxford University Press, Oxford.Google Scholar
Coe, M. & Coe, C. 1987. Large herbivores, Acacia trees and bruchid beetles. South African Journal of Science 83:624–635.Google Scholar
Coppock, D. L., Ellis, J. E. & Swift, D. M. 1986. Livestock feeding ecology and resource utilization in a nomadic pastoral system. Journal of Applied Ecology 23:573–583.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coughenour, M. B. & Detling, J. K. 1986. Acacia tortilis seed germination responses to water potential and nutrients. African Journal of Ecology 24:203–205.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deevey, E. S. 1947. Lifetables for natural populations of animals. Quarterly Review of Biology 22:283–314.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Douglas-Hamilton, I. 1972. On the ecology and behaviour of the African elephant – the elephants of Lake Manyara. Unpublished DPhil Thesis, University of Oxford.Google Scholar
Ernst, W. H. O., Decelle, J. E., Tolsma, D. J. & Verweij, R. A. 1990. Lifecycle of the bruchid beetle, Bruchidius uberatus and its predation of Acacia nilotica seeds in a tree savanna in Botswana. Entomological Experimental Applications 57:177–190.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ernst, W. H. O., Tolsma, D. J. & Decelle, J. E. 1989. Predation of seeds of Acacia tortilis by insects. Oikos 54:294–300.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Estrada, A. & Coates-Estrada, R. 1986. Frugivory by howling monkeys (Aluoatta palliala) at Los Tuxtlas, Mexico: dispersal and fate of seeds. Pp. 93–104 in Estrada, A. & Fleming, T. H. (eds). Frugivores and seed dispersal. Dr W. Junk Publishers, The Netherlands.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilbert, L. E. 1980. Food web organization and the conservation of Neotropical diversity. Pp. 11–34 in Soulé, M. E. & Wilcox, B. A. (eds). Conservation biology. Sinauer, Sunderland, Massachusetts.Google Scholar
Gould, S. J. & Vrba, E. S. 1982. Exaptation – a missing term in the science of form. Paleobiology 8:4–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Grubb, P. J. 1977. The maintenance of species-richness in plant communities: the importance of the regeneration niche. Biological Reviews 52:107–145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gwynne, M. D. 1969. The nutritive values of Acacia pods in relation to Acacia seed distribution by ungulates. East African Wildlife Journal 7:176–178.Google Scholar
Hauser, T. P. 1994. Germination, predation and dispersal of Acacia albida seeds. Oikos 70:421–426.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herrera, C. M. 1984. A study of avian frugivores, bird-dispersed plants, and their interaction in Mediterranean scrublands. Ecological Monographs 54:1–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Herrera, C. M. 1985. Determinants of plant-animal coevolution: the case of mutualistic dispersal of seeds by vertebrates. Oikos 44:132–141.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howe, F. H. 1977. Bird activity and seed dispersal of a tropical wet forest tree. Ecology 58:539–550.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howe, H. F. & Smallwood, J. 1982. Ecology of seed dispersal. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 13:201–228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Howe, H. F. & Vande Kerckhove, G. A. 1979. Fecundity and seed dispersal. Ecology 60:180–189.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Janzen, D. H. 1971. Escape of Cassia grandis beans from predators in time and space. Ecology 52:964–979.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Janzen, D. H. 1980. When is it co-evolution? Evolution 34:611–612.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Janzen, D. H. 1986. Mice, big mammals, and seeds: it matters who defecates what where. Pp. 251–273 in Estrada, A. & Fleming, T. H. (eds). Frugivores and seed dispersal. Dr W. Junk Publishers, The Netherlands.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Janzen, D. H. & Martin, P. S. 1982. Neotropical anachronisms: the fruits the Gomphoteres ate. Science 215:19–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kalemera, M. C. K. 1983. Elephant utilisation of the Acacia tortilis woodlands in Lake Manyara National Park, Tanzania. Unpublished MSc Thesis, University of Dar es Salaam.Google Scholar
Lamprey, H. F. 1967. Notes on the dispersal and germination of some tree seeds through the agency of mammals and birds. East African Wildlife Journal 5:179–180.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McNaughton, S. J. & Georgiadis, N. J. 1986. Ecology of African grazing and browsing mammals. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 1:39–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, M. F. 1993. African Acacia population dynamics: the impact of large herbivores, rodents and bruchids. Unpublished PhD Thesis, University of London.Google Scholar
Miller, M. F. 1994. Large African herbivores, bruchid beetles and their interactions with Acacia seeds. Oecologia 97:265–270.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Miller, M. F. 1995a. The costs and benefits of Acacia seed consumption by ungulates. Oikos 71:181–187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, M. F. 1995b. Acacia seed survival, germination and seedling growth following pod ingestion by large herbivores and seed chewing by rodents. African Journal of Ecology 33:194–210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, M. F. & Coe, M. 1993. Is it advantageous for Acacia seeds to be eaten by ungulates? Oikos 66:364–368.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Milton, S. J. 1987. Phenology of seven Acacia species in S. Africa. South African Journal of Wildlife Research 17:1–6.Google Scholar
Mwalyosi, R. B. B. 1990. The dynamic ecology of Acacia tortilis woodland in Lake Manyara National Park, Tanzania. African Journal of Ecology 28:189–199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nge'the, J. C. & Box, T. W. 1976. Botanical composition of eland and goat diets on an Acacia grassland community in Kenya. Journal of Rangeland Management 29:290–293.Google Scholar
O'Dowd, D. J. & Gill, A. M. 1986. Seed dispersal syndromes in Australian Acacia. Pp. 87–121 in Murray, D. R. (ed.) Seed dispersal. Academic Press, Sydney, Australia.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peake, F. G. G. 1952. On a bruchid seed borer in Acacia arabica. Bulletin of Entomological Research 43:317–324.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pellew, R. A. P. 1984a. Food consumption and energy budgets in the giraffe. Journal of Applied Ecology 21:141–159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pellew, R. A. P. 1984b. The feeding ecology of a selective browser, the giraffe. Journal of Zoology 202:57–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pellew, R. A. P. & Southgate, B. J. 1984. The parasitism of Acacia tortilis in the Serengeti. African Journal of Ecology 22:73–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schupp, E. W. 1993. Quantity, quality and the effectiveness of seed dispersal by animals. Pp. 15–29 in Fleming, T. G. and Estrada, A. (eds). Frugivory and seed dispersal: ecological and evolutionary aspects. Kluwer Academic Publishers, The Netherlands.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, C. C. & Goodman, P. S. 1986. Successional dynamics in an Acacia nilotica-Euclea divinorum savanna in Southern Africa. Journal of Ecology 75:603–610.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, T. M. & Shackleton, S. E. 1988. The effects of shading on the establishment and growth of Acacia tortilis seedlings. South African Journal of Botany 54:375–379.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snow, D. W. 1971. Evolutionary aspects of fruit-eating by birds. Ibis 113:194–202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tolsma, D. J. 1989. On the ecology of savanna ecosystems in south-eastern Botswana. Published PhD Thesis, University of Amsterdam.Google Scholar
Thompson, J. N. 1989. Concepts of coevolution. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 4:179–183.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Traveset, A. 1991. Pre-dispersal seed predation in Central American Acacia farnesiana: factors affecting the abundance of co-occurring bruchid beetles. Oecologia 87:570–576.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Traveset, A. 1992. Effect of verbebrate frugivores oh bruchid beetles that prey on Acacia farnesiana seeds. Oikos 63:200–206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
West, D. C., Shugart, H. H. & Botkin, D. B. 1981. Forest succession: concepts and applications. Springer-Verlag, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weyerhaeuser, R. 1982. On the ecology of the Lake Manyara elephants. Unpublished MSc Thesis, Yale University, New Haven.Google Scholar
Wickens, G. E. 1969. A study of Acacia albida Del. (Mimosoideae). Kew Bulletin 23:121–202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar