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Large animals are known collectively as "megafauna" – such as elephants, giraffes, hippos and other huge creatures. In many ecosystems, herbivorous megafauna is crucial for seed dispersal of many terrestrial plants, particularly those with large fruits ("mega-fungi"). In the forests of Thailand, sambar deer, bears, gibbons and elephants play this vital role for the forest tree Platymitra macrocarpa which carries 3 to 5 "long fruits that these animals consume.
A study published in the open access journal PLOS ONE evaluates the relative contribution of each of these species to the dispersal of the seeds of this tree.The authors of the study followed the consumption fruits, seed dispersal and seed viability by observing the trees during the fruiting period, sampling the droppings and other deposited seed sites and measuring the germination rate.) Using this badysis, they were able to calculate Seed dispersal efficiency for each megafauna species that uses these trees as an open buffet.
Their results showed that while elephants consume 3 percent of the fruit If available, they are responsible for a whopping 37 percent of the seeds that have produced viable seedlings. On the other hand, sambar deer consumed 23 percent of the fruit, but was only responsible for 17 percent of the seedlings. This was determined as the result of the greater damage caused by the beetle to the seeds that the deer shed.
Although the smaller members of the megafauna of this ecosystem such as deer and bear play an important role in seed dispersal, their effectiveness is less. In the end, they require more fruit to reach the same level of reproduction achieved by elephants with much less fruit consumed.
" If less vulnerable, large herbivores such as deer are unable to replicate the dispersal role of mega-herbivores threatened Like elephants, the fruits of megafauna could undergo contractions, affecting the composition of the forest community and potentially forest carbon stocks, "says Kim McConkey of the National Institute of Advanced Studies in Bangalore, Thailand.
Although it may seem like a study on the dispersal of seeds from a handful of species to a tree in a small-span ecosystem, this could not be further from the truth.If this widely dispersed tree species is unable to to reproduce effectively, it could have major effects on many species within the ecosystem, not to mention the forest carbon stocks reported by McConkey. i, small changes can have major consequences
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By Connor Ertz Earth.com Staff Writer
Photo credit: Kulpat Saralamba
Topics: Elephants
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