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Seed predation in a tropical mangrove forest: a test of the dominance-predation model in northern Australia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

Keith A. McGuinness
Keith A. McGuinness
Affiliation:
School of Biological Sciences, Northern Territory University, Darwin NT 0909, Australia
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Abstract

Studies of predation on propagules of the mangroves Avicennia marina, Bruguiera exaristata, Ceriops tagal and Rhizophora stylosa were made in a forest in northern Australia to test the generality of the dominance-predation model. This model states that an inverse relationship exists between the dominance of a species in the canopy of mangrove forests and the rate of predation on the propagules of that species. Significant differences in predation were found among the four species, and among patches of forest dominated by the different species. Predators attacked more than 50% of the propagules of all species except R. stylosa, so are likely to significantly affect forest structure. The intensity of predation did not, however, vary as the dominance-predation model predicted. Instead, predation on the propagules of a species appeared to depend on the availability of propagules of other, more highly preferred, species.

Keywords

AvicenniaBruguieraCeriopscrabsintertidal mangrovesRhizophoraseed predationtree dominance
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Tropical Ecology , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , March 1997 , pp. 293 - 302
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1997

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