Driving factors of seed dispersal by birds and mammals

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K18718
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Forest science
• Research Institution: Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute
• Principal Investigator: Naoe Shoji 国立研究開発法人森林総合研究所, 東北支所, 研究員 (80732247)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 種子散布 / 鳥類 / 哺乳類 / 動物散布 / 動物散布樹木

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Our results showed that seed dispersal distance achieved by mammals are tend to be longer than that by birds. This was probably due to the difference of their home range size (i.e., larger home range in mammals). The results also indicated that annual and seasonal variation in community-level fruit abundance can drive seed dispersal distance across species. Abundant fruit satiated fruit removal by animals and decreased their seed dispersal distance. We illustrated that home range of seed disperser and temporal variation in community-level fruit abundance could be determining factors for seed dispersal.

Free Research Field

森林生態学