SEEDS IN TAPIR DUNG IN SANTA ROSA NATIONAL PARK, COSTA RICA

Abstract

In Santa Rosa National Park in the deciduous forests of northwestern Costa Rica, tapir (Tapirus bairdjj) dung contains seeds and seed fragments. Large seeds such as those of Mastichodendron capriri, Mani/kara zapota and Quercus o/eoides are invariably crushed by the molar mill. Large hard seeds such as those of Enter%bium cyc/ocarpum and Pithecellobium saman are not crushed by the mollar mill but may scarified sufficiently that they begin to germinate in the tapir gut and are therefore killed; however, some survive the trip as well. At least some of the small seeds that are normally dispersed via vertebrate guts survive the trip through the tapir, but the wind-dispersed seeds of Goch/ospermum vitifo/ium are killed by the digestive process. Whether the tapir should be viewed as a seed predator or dispersal agent, or some combination of the two, depends on the species of plant.