Seed Dispersal in Páramo Plants: Epizoochorous and Hydrochorous Taxa

Abstract: On the basis of a recent checklist of plant diversity in páramos, diaspores collected from herbaria were studied for adaptations to dispersal on animals and by water. This study shows that the páramo flora has a relatively high percentage of genera with morphological adaptations to epizoochorous and to hydrochorous diaspore dispersal. Genera with hooked and straight appendages are present throughout the páramo belt, while their number decreases in the higher páramo zones. About half of the hydrochorous genera and one-third of the epizoochorous ones can be found throughout all páramo zones. The contribution of holarctic epizoochorous genera to the páramo flora seems to be greater than that of austral-antarctic genera, whereas in hydrochorous genera it is the reverse.