Plant-mammal interactions in tropical Bolivian forests with different hunting pressures

Roldan, AI; Simonetti, JA

Abstract

We studied plant-animal interactions and vegetation structure in two geographically close tropical Bolivian forests subjected to different hunting intensities. We hypothesized that reduction of mammals of > 1 kg in an "intensively hunted forest," compared with an "occasionally hunted forest," should correlate with decreased seed predation and seedling trampling, increased seedling survival and density, and decreased tree-species diversity at the seedling stage in relation to the adult stage. The occasionally hunted forest held 1.7 times as many mammalian species as the intensively hunted forest. As predicted, predation of Astrocaryum murumuru seeds was 34.2% lower in the intensively hunted forest. Similarly, trampling of model seedlings was 5.4 times lower and seedling survival was 1.15 times greater in the intensively hunted forest than that in the occasionally hunted forest. But the intensively hunted forest displayed lower seedling densities and a higher ratio of seedling diversity to tree diversity than did the occasionally hunted forest. Reduction of peccaries from the intensively hunted forest may explain much of the between-site differences in seed predation, trampling, and seedling survival Lack of consistent differences in seedling density and diversity could mean that reduced granivory and trampling may be counteracted by reduced seed dispersal. The reduction of mammalian populations may produce a complex mosaic of forest patches with distinct degrees of structural change, depending on the intensity of defaunation.

Más información

Título según WOS: Plant-mammal interactions in tropical Bolivian forests with different hunting pressures
Título según SCOPUS: Plant-mammal interactions in tropical Bolivian forests with different hunting pressures
Título de la Revista: CONSERVATION BIOLOGY
Volumen: 15
Número: 3
Editorial: Wiley
Fecha de publicación: 2001
Página de inicio: 617
Página final: 623
Idioma: English
URL: http://doi.wiley.com/10.1046/j.1523-1739.2001.015003617.x
DOI:

10.1046/j.1523-1739.2001.015003617.x

Notas: ISI, SCOPUS