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DISPERSAL OF TRILLIUM SEEDS BY DEER: IMPLICATIONS FOR LONG‐DISTANCE MIGRATION OF FOREST HERBS
Author(s) -
Vellend Mark,
Myers Jonathan A.,
Gardescu Sana,
Marks P. L.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.144
H-Index - 294
eISSN - 1939-9170
pISSN - 0012-9658
DOI - 10.1890/0012-9658(2003)084[1067:dotsbd]2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - biological dispersal , seed dispersal , ecology , range (aeronautics) , biology , herb , glacial period , geography , population , medicine , materials science , demography , sociology , composite material , medicinal herbs , traditional medicine , paleontology
Theoretical models of plant range expansion require the assumption of occasional long‐distance seed‐dispersal events to explain post‐glacial migration rates. For the many forest herbs whose seeds are dispersed primarily by ants, there are few documented mechanisms of occasional long‐distance dispersal, so models of forest‐herb migration have been largely phenomenological. Here we show that viable seeds of Trillium grandiflorum , an ant‐dispersed forest herb in eastern North America, are dispersed via ingestion and defecation by white‐tailed deer. We also use data from the literature on movement patterns and gut retention times to model a deer‐generated seed shadow, showing that most seeds dispersed by deer should travel at least several hundred meters from parent plants, and occasionally >3 km. Our results provide a mechanism of long‐distance dispersal that has likely contributed to rates of post‐glacial migration and post‐agricultural forest colonization. Corresponding Editor: M. L. Cain