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Fruit traits of tree species in lower montane rainforest at Doi Suthep–Pui, northern Thailand

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 September 2021

Apisada Rueangket ,
Prateep Duengkae ,
Sathid Thinkampheang ,
Neal J. Enright  and
Dokrak Marod
Apisada Rueangket
Affiliation:
Department of Forest Biology, Faculty of Forestry, Kasetsart University, Bangkok 10900, Thailand
Prateep Duengkae
Affiliation:
Department of Forest Biology, Faculty of Forestry, Kasetsart University, Bangkok 10900, Thailand
Sathid Thinkampheang
Affiliation:
Cooperation Centre of Thai Forest Ecological Research Network, Kasetsart University, Bangkok 10900, Thailand
Neal J. Enright
Affiliation:
Environment and Conservation Sciences, School of Veterinary and Life Sciences, Murdoch University, Perth, WA 6150, Australia
Dokrak Marod*
Affiliation:
Department of Forest Biology, Faculty of Forestry, Kasetsart University, Bangkok 10900, Thailand Center of Advanced Studies in Tropical Natural Resources, NRU-KU, Kasetsart University, Bangkok 10900, Thailand
*
Author for correspondence: Dokrak Marod, Email: dokrak.m@ku.ac.th
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Abstract

Fruits are a major food resource for wildlifes and have evolved different traits which attract specific frugivores and facilitate seed dispersal. This study examines the quantity of the frequency of fruit tree species, distribution amongst fruit traits and estimates the potential availability of the fruit resource for frugivores in a 16-ha permanent forest plot at Doi Suthep–Pui, Thailand. The similarity amongst traits for fleshy fruited species was explored using Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Fleshy fruited species comprised 122 of 208 tree species >2 cm diameter at breast height (DBH) recorded in the permanent plot. Amongst fleshy fruited species, small fruits (length <20 mm) were most common (63.16% of species) while large fruits were rare (4.1%). Black was the most common fruit colour (43.4%). Principal Component Analysis of fruit traits explained 57% of total variance on the first three axes, and allowed identification of three species groups. Litsea martabanica and Persea gamblei are the greatest density and represented the major PCA group; black, small-sized and thin husk indehiscent fruits. These fruiting trees scattered throughout the permanent plot and were of good regeneration status. Indicating fleshy fruit can be a food resource for frugivores especially small-sized fruit. Furthermore, large-fruited species such as Madhuca floribunda is low density but important to preserve for food resource of large frugivores. This finding is very important not only for forest protection policy but also for wildlife conservation as food resources.

Keywords

frugivoryfruit colourfruit sizefruit typesresource availability
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 37 , Issue 5 , September 2021 , pp. 240 - 251
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

#

These authors contributed equally to this work.

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