Tree species impoverishment and the future flora of the Atlantic forest of northeast Brazil
Article Abstract:
It seems that at least 31.6% of the zoochoric trees recorded in northeast Brazil rely on wide-gape birds for seed dispersal, according to research estimating loss of tree species in the Atlantic forest of northeast Brazil. Around 47.9% of the zoochoric tree species in the area need dispersal by bird species that make up only a subset of the regional fruit-eating avifauna. It seems wise to designate large fruit-eating birds as an 'umbrella species' to show the minimum area needed to maintain the vital ecological processes driving forest maintenance and regeneration.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 2000
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
Tropical tree gene flow and seed dispersal: deforestation affects the genetic structure of the surviving forest fragments
Article Abstract:
Tropical forests provide habitats for thousands of species but deforestation is creating a fragmented landscape of cleared areas and forest plots, changing the movement of pollen and seed dispersal. A study of the Amazonian tree species Corythophora alta shows that restricted seed dispersal has led to a sharp genetic differentiation of adjoining populations, indicating that small forest plots exchange seeds infrequently, limiting the size of genetic neighbourhoods.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 1999
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
Directed deterrence by capsaicin in chillies
Article Abstract:
It has been found that capsaicin, the chemical that causes the peppery heat of the chilli, selectively discourages vertebrate predators without deterring more effective seed dispersers. This is the first evidence that directed deterrence in a ripe fruit may influence plant-vertebrate interactions.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 2001
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
- Abstracts: Reserve selection algorithms and the real world. Reliability of elasticity analysis: Reply to mills et al.. Animal-distribution modeling in gap analysis: An evolving science
- Abstracts: Temperatures in the Earth's core from melting-point measurements of iron at high static pressures. High-pressure polymorphs of olivine and the 660-km seismic discontinuity
- Abstracts: A lower limit of 9.5 Gyr on the age of the Galactic disk from the oldest white dwarf stars. Signs of galactic cannibalism
- Abstracts: Seismic and hydrothermal evidence for a cracking event on the East Pacific Rise crest at 9 degrees 50' N. Lost city found
- Abstracts: Even larger organisms. Species interactions can explain Taylor's power law for ecological time series. Reproductive pair correlations and the clustering of organisms