Gut passage and secondary metabolites alter the source of post-dispersal predation for bird-dispersed chili seeds

被引:11
作者
Fricke, Evan C. [1 ]
Haak, David C. [2 ]
Levey, Douglas J. [3 ]
Tewksbury, Joshua J. [4 ,5 ,6 ]
机构
[1] Iowa State Univ, Dept Ecol Evolut & Organismal Biol, Ames, IA 50011 USA
[2] Virginia Polytech Inst & State Univ, Dept Plant Pathol Physiol & Weed Sci, Blacksburg, VA 24061 USA
[3] Natl Sci Fdn, Div Environm Biol, Arlington, VA 22230 USA
[4] Colorado Global Hub, Future Earth, Boulder, CO 80309 USA
[5] Univ Colorado, Sustainabil Energy & Environm Complex, Boulder, CO 80309 USA
[6] Colorado State Univ, Sch Global Environm Studies, Ft Collins, CO 80523 USA
基金
美国国家科学基金会;
关键词
Frugivory; Granivory; Chemical defense; Mutualism; Seed fate; DIRECTED DETERRENCE; WILD CHILI; ECOLOGY; GERMINATION; PATHOGENS; CAPSAICIN; BENEFITS;
D O I
10.1007/s00442-016-3612-7
中图分类号
Q14 [生态学(生物生态学)];
学科分类号
071012 ; 0713 ;
摘要
Plants can influence the source and severity of seed predation through various mechanisms; the use of secondary metabolites for chemical defense, for example, is well documented. Gut passage by frugivores can also reduce mortality of animal-dispersed seeds, although this mechanism has gained far less attention than secondary metabolites. Apart from influencing the severity of seed predation, gut passage may also influence the source of seed predation. In Bolivia, we compared impacts of these two mechanisms, gut passage and secondary metabolites, on the source of seed predation in Capsicum chacoense, a wild chili species that is polymorphic for pungency (individual plants either produce fruits and seeds containing or lacking capsaicinoids). Using physical exclosures, we isolated seed removal by insects, mammals, and birds; seeds in the trials were from either pungent or non-pungent fruits and were either passed or not passed by seed-dispersing birds. Pungency had little influence on total short-term seed removal by animals, although prior work on this species indicates that capsaicin reduces mortality caused by fungi at longer time scales. Gut passage strongly reduced removal by insects, altering the relative impact of the three predator types. The weak impact of pungency on short-term predation contrasts with previous studies, highlighting the context dependence of secondary metabolites. The strong impact of gut passage demonstrates that this mechanism alone can influence which seed predators consume seeds, and that impacts of gut passage can be larger than those of secondary metabolites, which are more commonly acknowledged as a defense mechanism.
引用
收藏
页码:905 / 910
页数:6
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