Fruit-frugivore interactions in a Malagasy littoral forest - Universiteit ...

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Pteropus rufus Table 1 Continued Fruit Colour Odour Pulp Fruit Seed NS H20 type type length weight length weight (%) berry orange A soft & juicy 12.2 0.3 7.8 0.12 1 72 drupe green A jiucy & hard 5.0 0.1 3.6
Chapter 3a Pulp type could be juicy or arillate pulp, fibrous pulp or pulpless. Fruit and seed length and mass were measured with callipers and an electronic scale ‘Kernbalans NM60’ with respectively 0.01mm and 0.01g precision. These measures along with the number seeds were each subdivided in three classes. The water content of the fruits was calculated by comparing fresh mass and dry mass, after three days of drying in an oven. The fruit skin thickness was divided into the following categories; easily cut by fingernail, by a knife or by a secateur. We used X 2 -analyses to compare the flying foxes’ food selection with the overall fruit availability. A herbarium of all fruit species collected during our study was made in the field and identified by Dr. Johny Rabenantoandro at Missouri Botanical Garden in Antananarivo. Germination trials The seed viability after passage through the digestive tract was tested by simple germination trials, in which three different treatments were used; defecated seeds, control seeds and control fruits. Ripe control seeds and fruits were collected on or under the parent plant within a restricted time frame. All seeds were sown at 1cm depth in plastic pots filled with 8cm sterile sand and a 1.5cm humus layer on top. Pots were placed under a shed for protection from direct sunlight. The faecal seeds were still surrounded by their faecal matrix, when sown. For each treatment sowing was done at the same time and under the same overall ecological conditions in order to standardize procedures. The germination rate, defined as time to first germination, and percentage germinated seeds were scored weekly over a period of at least six months. RESULTS Fruit diet: faecal analyses and observations Over a 13-month period at least 40 fruit species (27 genera, 21 families) were eaten by P. rufus (Table 1). The flying foxes were observed to eat six fruit species while evidence of 38 species was found in the faecal samples. Eight species were identified as eaten by flying foxes based on the marks on the ejecta pellets found under fruit trees. At least five seed species remained unidentified in the faecal samples and therefore are not shown in Table 1. The family Rubiaceae, including genera Canthium, Rothmannia, Tricalysia, Mapouria, Ixora, and one unidentified genus, was predominant, representing eight fruit species and thus 20% of the plant species in the diet of the flying foxes. Of the remaining 20 families, eleven were represented by only one species, six by two species and three by three species. The cumulative distribution curve shows that at the end of the 12-month period the curve starts to level out ending in a record of 40 species eaten (Fig. 2). January was sampled the second time after completing a year cycle, which did not result in a higher number of species sampled. Five particular plant species, Ficus guatteriifolia, Syzigium sp.2, Terminalia fatraea, Uapaca thouarsii, and Uapaca littoralis were found to be important food sources for the flying foxes during the study period. This importance was based on the larger number of droppings found containing their seeds, the evidence on ejecta pellets, multiple feeding observations or because these species were eaten for at least four successive months, often much longer (Table 2). Typically one seed species per dropping was found. Out of the 410 faecal samples collected only four samples had two different species of seeds. No sample contained a 90
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Fruit-frugivore interactions in a M
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Cover photographs: Front: Back: -
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Table of contents III. General conc
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Acknowledgements A special word of
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PREFACE Preface This work brings to
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General introduction Finally, seed
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General introduction high as 98% fo
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’Hazo tokana tsy mba ala’ One t
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Chapter 1 changes in resource avail
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Chapter 1 For analyses we narrowed
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Chapter 1 Fig. 2. Seasonal variatio
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Chapter 1 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0
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Chapter 1 Fig 4. Comparison of data
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Chapter 1 Table 4. Data on phenolog
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Chapter 1 Relation with abiotic fac
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Chapter 1 Malagasy rainforests disp
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Chapter 1 Appendix I Continued Fami
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Chapter 1 Appendix I Continued Fami
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Malagasy proverb Drawing © Giusepp
Page 43 and 44: Chapter 2 the successful establishm
Page 45 and 46: Chapter 2 40 Table 1. The frugivore
Page 47 and 48: Chapter 2 Statistical analyses To v
Page 49 and 50: Chapter 2 Overall fruit trap data d
Page 51 and 52: Chapter 2 Table 3. Morphological an
Page 53 and 54: Chapter 2 depressed seeds (Fig. 3a)
Page 55 and 56: Chapter 2 Fig. 3. Ordination plot o
Page 57 and 58: Chapter 2 On a community level the
Page 59 and 60: Chapter 2 Appendix II. Plant-animal
Page 63 and 64: Malagasy proverb Lemur drawing © S
Page 65 and 66: Chapter 3 different consumer specie
Page 67 and 68: Chapter 3 Bollen et al. in press, C
Page 69 and 70: Chapter 3 64 Body 1,2 Body lenght (
Page 71 and 72: Chapter 3 dominant plant families s
Page 73 and 74: Chapter 3 Table 4. Morphological an
Page 75 and 76: Chapter 3 Table 4 Continued Paramet
Page 77 and 78: Chapter 3 Besides testing feeding s
Page 79 and 80: Chapter 3 and do not consume the fi
Page 81 and 82: Chapter 3 (1997) already pointed ou
Page 83 and 84: Chapter 3 1989; Galetti 1993; Saini
Page 85 and 86: Chapter 3 Appendix I. All plant spe
Page 87 and 88: Chapter 3 Other SD Hss Rats Rr Ew 8
Page 90 and 91: Pteropus rufus Feeding ecology of P
Page 92 and 93: Pteropus rufus number per species a
Page 96 and 97: Pteropus rufus larger number of spe
Page 98 and 99: Table 2 Continued Number of seeds/d
Page 100 and 101: Pteropus rufus Food selection: expl
Page 102 and 103: Pteropus rufus presence. On the oth
Page 104 and 105: Pteropus rufus Marshall (1983). Occ
Page 106 and 107: Coracopsis nigra The feeding ecolog
Page 108 and 109: Coracopsis nigra fruit pulp (70%) b
Page 110 and 111: Coracopsis nigra Table 1 Continued
Page 112 and 113: Coracopsis nigra Table 2. Morpholog
Page 115 and 116: Malagasy proverb Drawing of fruits
Page 117 and 118: Chapter 4 Most seed dispersal studi
Page 119 and 120: Chapter 4 Mean temperature is aroun
Page 121 and 122: Chapter 4 Number of seeds: 1-2, 3-1
Page 123 and 124: Chapter 4 Fig. 2. Monthly fruit ava
Page 125 and 126: Chapter 4 120 Table 3. Soil charact
Page 127 and 128: Chapter 4 Table 4. Morphological ch
Page 129 and 130: Chapter 4 Table 5. Biochemical char
Page 131 and 132: Chapter 4 Chemistry At both sites,
Page 133 and 134: Chapter 4 considering species numbe
Page 137 and 138: ’Ny valala tsy indroa mandry eo a
Page 139 and 140: Chapter 5 environmental degradation
Page 141 and 142: Chapter 5 at a very low density in
Page 143 and 144: Chapter 5 Table 1. A list of plant
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Chapter 5 (Ganzhorn et al. 1999a).
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Chapter 5 Animals The degree of vul
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Chapter 5 comm.). Mixed species pla
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Chapter 5 data are needed we believ
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General conclusion as in other site
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General conclusion selection pressu
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General conclusion are consumed by
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Samenvatting omstandigheden zijn bo
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Samenvatting vruchtkenmerken. Beide
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Samenvatting zaadverspreiding moete
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Résumé température et précipita
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Résumé (Sud-est de Madagascar) et
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Résumé des frugivores sur l’év
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References Bollen A, Van Elsacker L
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References Dowsett JR (2000) Le sta
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References Godfrey LR, Junger WL, R
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References Janson CH, Chapman CA (1
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References Marshall AG (1983) Bats,
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References Rabevohitra R, Lowry PP,
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References Tattersall I (1982) The
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family Loganiaceae scientific name
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