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REMOVAL OF SEEDS FROM HORSE DUNG BY TROPICAL RODENTS: INFLUENCE OF HABITAT AND 'AMOUNT OF DUNG

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dc.contributor.author Janzen, Daniel H.
dc.date.accessioned 2019-02-28T19:41:44Z
dc.date.available 2019-02-28T19:41:44Z
dc.date.issued 1982-12
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/11606/1339
dc.description.abstract Horses are major contemporary dispersers of guanacaste tree seeds (Enterolobium cyclocarpum) in Costa Rica, and probably were in prehistoric times as well. By placing 2-L and 8-L piles of fresh horse dung containing 5, 125, or 500 guahacaste seeds each in grassland and adjacent deciduous forest (Santa Rosa National Park, Costa Rica) I determined that (1) the seeds have a much greater chance of being harvested by seed predator rodents (Liomys salvini) from the dung in forest than that in adjacent grassland, (2) an 8-L seed-rich dung pile hides a larger absolute number of seeds from rodents than does a 2-L seed-rich dung pile, (3) a seed has a much greater chance of being harvested from a seed-rich dung pile than from a seed-poor dung pile, and (4) the grassland rodent Sigmodon hispidus harvests some of the germinating guanacaste seeds from the dung but leaves hard dormant seeds behind. These findings suggest that a guanacaste seed dispersal agent that defecates small numbers of seeds in many small piles of dung in grassland will be a better dispersal agent for guanacaste tree seeds than one that defecates many seeds in a few large dung piles in the nearby forest. es_CR
dc.language.iso en es_CR
dc.subject Costa Rica; defecation; dung; Enterolobium cyc1ocarpum; grassland; Guanacaste tree; Liomys salvini; pasture; Santa Rosa National Park; seed dispersal; seed predation; Sigmodon hispidus; tropical deciduous forest. es_CR
dc.title REMOVAL OF SEEDS FROM HORSE DUNG BY TROPICAL RODENTS: INFLUENCE OF HABITAT AND 'AMOUNT OF DUNG es_CR
dc.type Article es_CR


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    Artículos de Acceso Abierto y Manuscritos de Investigadores entregados a ACG

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