Effects of ingestion of seeds by sika deer (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Cervus nippon</Emphasis>) and dung presence on their germination in a herbaceous community |
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Authors: | Haruna Ishikawa |
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Institution: | (1) Laboratory of Forest Protection, Graduate School of Bioagricultural Sciences, Nagoya University, Chikusa, Nagoya 464-8601, Japan |
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Abstract: | In a herbaceous community subjected to continual impacts of sika deer (Cervus
nippon), I examined the effects of seed ingestion by deer on seeds by comparing the ripening and germination rates of seeds of two
dominant species, Zoysia japonica and Hydrocotyle maritima, between seeds taken out of fecal pellets (deer-ingested seeds) and mature seeds collected directly from living plants (control
seeds). Seeds of Z. japonica were likely to have tolerance to ingestion from earlier periods of seed maturity. In contrast, only ripened seeds of H. maritima may have tolerance to ingestion. When the seeds ripened, the germination rates of two species did not differ significantly
between deer-ingested seeds and control seeds. Thus, although immature seeds may be crushed by ingestion, many mature seeds
can be dispersed by sika deer with no alteration of germination rate. However, the other germination experiment showed that
the germination rates were significantly higher for seeds of Juncus tenuis in artificially broken fecal pellets than for those kept confined in the pellets, and all seeds germinated from intact pellets
were situated near the surface of the pellets. These results suggest that dung may physically prevent seeds inside from germinating
and decomposition of dung enables herbaceous small seeds in the dung to germinate. |
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