Effects of frugivorous birds on seed retention time and germination in Xishuangbanna, southwest China.

Abstract

The dispersal of many plants depends on transportation by birds as seed dispersers. The birds play an important role in long distance seed dispersal and may also affect seed germination. However, for plants who have many bird dispersers, the influence of dominant and non-dominant dispersers on retention time (dispersal distance) and germination remains poorly understood. In this study, we performed experiments with captive frugivorous birds and fruiting plant species to study the effects of dominant and non-dominant dispersers on seed retention time (SRT) and germination (seed germination percentage and germination speed). Our study showed a great interspecific variation in the effects of frugivorous birds on both SRT and germination. Some birds enhance the germination of a given plant species, but others do not. Generally, the dominant visitors improved the seed germination and performed longer seed retention time.