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Invertebrate Seed Predators are not all the Same: Seed Predation by Bruchine and Scolytine Beetles Affects Palm Recruitment in Different Ways
Author(s) -
Dracxler Caroline M.,
Pires Alexandra S.,
Fernandez Fernando A. S.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
biotropica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.813
H-Index - 96
eISSN - 1744-7429
pISSN - 0006-3606
DOI - 10.1111/j.1744-7429.2010.00723.x
Subject(s) - predation , biology , predator , invertebrate , ecology , seed predation , zoology , population , seed dispersal , biological dispersal , demography , sociology
Because most invertebrate seed predators are host‐specific, they are usually expected to produce Janzen–Connell patterns. This expectation was fulfilled for Astrocaryum but not for Allagoptera , depending on the effects of bruchine and scolytine predators on the seeds of these palms. Thus, the mere existence of invertebrate predation is not sufficient for generating Janzen–Connell; what matters is seed mortality, which varies between predators and between plant species for the same predator.