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Dung Beetles Reduce Clustering of Tropical Tree Seedlings
Author(s) -
Lawson Callum R.,
Mann Darren J.,
Lewis Owen T.
Publication year - 2012
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.1744-7429.2012.00871.x
Subject(s) - tropics , biology , seedling , tree (set theory) , agroforestry , ecology , dung beetle , cluster analysis , rainforest , scarabaeinae , tropical forest , geography , agronomy , mathematics , scarabaeidae , statistics , mathematical analysis
We used manipulative field exclusion experiments to investigate the effects of dung beetles on the spatial aggregation of emerging seedlings of two tropical tree species. The results provide the first direct demonstration that tropical dung beetles reduce seedling clustering, with important implications for plant densities and demography.