Seed predation of Copaifera langsdorffii (Fabaceae): a tropical tree with supra‐annual fruiting |
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| Authors: | Matheus Lopes Souza Marcilio Fagundes |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Departamento de Biologia Geral, Programa de Pós Gradua??o em Ecologia Conserva??o e Manejo da Vida Silvestre, Laboratório de Fisiologia Vegetal, Belo Horizonte, Brazil;2. Universidade Estadual de Montes Claros, Departamento de Biologia Geral, Programa de Pós Gradua??o em Ciências Biológicas, Laboratório de Biologia da Conserva??o, Montes Claros, Brazil |
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| Abstract: | Seed predation is an important ecological and evolutionary force that directly affects the distribution of plant species. Copaifera langsdorffii is a tropical tree species with supra‐annual fruiting, which has its seeds predated by a specialist endogenous insect (Rynochenus brevicollis: Curculionidae) in the Brazilian savanna. Three hypotheses were addressed: (i) the predator satiation hypothesis, (ii) the resource concentration hypothesis and (iii) the larger seed predation hypothesis. A total of 112 individual C. langsdorffii were monitored monthly from January to August during four consecutive years (from 2008 to 2011) to determine the presence of fruits on each plant. All trees produced fruits in the year 2008, whereas none of them produced flowers or fruits in 2009 or 2010. Moreover, only 65 individuals (58%) marked in 2008 produced fruits in 2011. The number of fruits per plant was approximately 21% greater in 2008 than in 2011, while the percentage of seed predation was 76% greater in 2011, thereby supporting the predator satiation hypothesis. The percentage of seeds predated was not affected by the number of fruits per plant. Therefore, our data did not support the resource concentration hypothesis. Plants producing large seeds experienced more seed predation by R. brevicollis, supporting the larger seed predation hypothesis. In addition, we also observed a positive relationship between seed volume and adult R. brevicollis weight. This study demonstrates the importance of supra‐annual fruiting for increasing survivorship of C. langsdorffii seeds both at the individual and the population level, and suggests that seed predators select plants producing large seeds as a way of increasing the number of offspring. |
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| Keywords: | plant phenology predator satiation hypothesis resource concentration
Rhinochenus brevicollis
seed size |
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