Main Description

This book presents current knowledge of seed fate in both natural and human-disturbed landscapes, from various regions of the world. Habitats considered range from mountain and arid deserts in the temperate zone, to savanna and lowland rainforests in tropical regions of the world. Particular attention is paid to plant diversity conservation when seed removal is affected by factors such as hunting, habitat fragmentation or intensive logging. Contributors include leading scientists involved in research on seed ecology and on animal-plant relationships from the perspective of both primary and secondary seed dispersal, and predation.

Readership

Seed science, plant and animal ecology

Main Contents

• Seed Fate Pathways: Filling the Gap between Parent and Offspring, S B Vander Wall, P-M Forget, J E Lambert and P E Hulme

Seed predation

• Seed Predator Guilds, Spatial Variation in Post-Dispersal Seed Predation and Potential Effects on Plant Demography - a Temperate Perspective, P E Hulme and J Kollmann, Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Denmark

• The Fate of Seed Banks: Factors influencing Seed Survival for Light-Demanding Species in Moist Tropical Forests, J W Dalling, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA and Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Republic of Panama

• Frugivore-Mediated Interactions Among Bruchid Beetles and Palm Fruits at Barro Colorado Island, Panama: Implications for Seed Fate, K M Silvius, SUNY-ESF, USA

• Patterns of Seed Predation by Vertebrate versus Invertebrate Seed Predators among Different Plant Species, Seasons and Spatial Distributions, E M Notman, US Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, USA, and A C Villegas, US State Department, Bureau of Oceans, Environmental, and Scientific Affairs, USA

• Seed Predation and Dispersal by Peccaries throughout the Neotropics and its Consequences: A Review and Synthesis, H Beck, Duke University, USA

• Seed Predation, Seed Dispersal and Habitat Fragmentation: Does Context Make a Difference in Tropical Australia?, J Dennis, CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems and the Rainforest Cooperative Research Centre, Australia, G J Lipsett-Moore, James Cook University of North Queensland, Australia, G Harrington, CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, Australia, E A Collins, CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems and the Rainforest Cooperative Research Centre, Australia and James Cook University of North Queensland, Australia, and D Westcott, CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems and the Rainforest Cooperative Research Centre, Australia

Primary Seed dispersal

• The Fate of Primate Dispersed Seeds: Deposition Pattern, Dispersal Distance, and Implications for Conservation, J E Lambert and C A Chapman, University of Florida, Gainesville, USA and Wildlife Conservation Society, USA

• Fallen Fruits and Terrestrial Vertebrate Frugivores: A Case Study in a Lowland Tropical Rain Forest in Peninsular Malaysia, M Yasuda and S Miura, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, Japan, N Ishii, Japan Wildlife Research Center, Japan, T Okuda, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Japan, and N A Hussein, Forest Research Institute Malaysia, Malaysia

• Myrmecochorous Seed Dispersal in Temperate Regions, V Mayer, S Ölzant, and R C Fischer, University of Vienna, Austria
• Scatterhoarding in Mediterranean Shrublands of the S.W. Cape, South Africa, J J Midgley, and B Anderson, University of Cape Town, South Africa

• Selection, Predation and Dispersal of Seeds by Tree Squirrels in Temperate and Boreal Forests: Are Tree Squirrels Keystone Granivores?, M Steele, Wilkes University, USA, L A Wauters, University of Insubria, Italy, and K W Larsen, University College of the Cariboo, Canada

• Jays, Mice and Oaks: Predation and Dispersal of Quercus robur and Q. petraea in North-Western Europe, J den Ouden, Wageningen University, The Netherlands, P Jansen, University of Groningen, The Netherlands, and R Smit, Wageningen University, The Netherlands

• Walnut Seed Dispersal: Mixed Effects of Tree Squirrels and Field Mice with Different Hoarding Ability, N Tamura and T Katsuki, Forestry and Forest Product Research Institute, Japan, and F Hayashi, Tokyo Metropolitan University, Japan

• Effects of Large Seeds on Rodent Populations and the Recruitment of Large-Seeded Trees in Monodominant and Mixed Temperate Forests in Japan, K Hoshizaki, Akita Prefectural University, Japan, and H Miguchi, Niigata University, Japan

• Impact of Small Rodents on Tree Seeds in Temperate and Subtropical Forests, China, Z-B Zhang, Z-S Xiao and H-J Li, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China

• Rodent Scatterhoarders As Conditional Mutualists, T C Theimer, Northern Arizona University, USA

Secondary seed dispersal

• Diplochory and the evolution of seed dispersal, S B Vander Wall, and W S Longland, USDA Agricultural Research Service, USA and University of Nevada, Reno, USA
• Ants as Seed Dispersers of Fleshy Diaspores in Brazilian Atlantic Forests, M A Pizo, Universidade Estadual Paulista University, Brasil, L Passos and P S Oliveira, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Brasil

• The Role of Dung Beetles as Secondary Seed Dispersers and their Effect on Plant Regeneration in Tropical Rainforests, E Andresen, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México and F Feer, Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, France

• Post-Dispersal Seed Fate of Some Cloud Forest Tree Species in Costa Rica, D G Wenny, Illinois Natural History Survey, USA

• Observing Seed Removal: Remote Video Monitoring of Seed Selection, Predation and Dispersal, P A Jansen, and J Den Ouden

• How to Elucidate Seed Fate? A Review of Methods Used to Study Seed Removal and Secondary Seed Dispersal, P-M Forget and D Wenny