Me and some colleagues conducted a seed removal experiment using a few native and alien seed species.
Normally, these experiments display the seeds within the seed shadow of mother plants. For different reasons, we decided to display all our seeds also in alien habitats, i.e. habitats where the respective plant species is absent.
We found that local fauna instantly embraced the new arriving seeds. This was not our main research question even though I guess it may be an interesting topic in some cases of alien plant invasions.
Do you know any similar study where the studied seed species were displayed in alien habitats?
Thank you!
There are many studies of dispersal where seeds of different species germinate under other tree species. For example, see my paper 'Size-based fruit selection by a keystone avian frugivore and effects on seed viability' where I discuss the germination seedlings under the canopies of other large-fruited tree species.
It's in the New Zealand Journal of Botany, 55:2, 118–133, DOI: 10.1080/0028825X.2016.1247882
thank you for the suggestion. Quite impressive the study you made, and very interesting findings. An exotic bird, perhaps the only, or more likely, the main frugivorous bird of those native fruits in that forest, actively dispersing the seeds with greater potential for establishment.
However, that does not fit what I was looking for.
What we did, for instance, was placing the fruits from those three species in forests where they do not exist. It may be a poor example, and perhaps a nonsense, but that is more likely to happen with seeds, following exceptional seed dispersal events. Would those seeds escape predation? or would local animals rapidly embrace that new food source?
Meanwhile, I found that Ashton (1979) , in a seed removal experiment in Australia, also placed eucalypt seeds 200 meters away from the forest limit, in a bracken land, and seeds were also harvested by ants, even though in lower proportions than in the eucalypt forest. That is the kind of experiment I am having trouble finding.
I really appreciated you time and kindness. Thank you
Ashton, D. H.: Seed harvesting by ants in forests of Eucalyptus regnans F. Muell. in central Victoria, Aust. J. Ecol., 4, 265-277, 10.1111/j.1442-9993.1979.tb01218.x, 1979.
You can do experiments to assess predation of seeds by placing seeds at varying distance from the trees. The best method is to set up remote sensing cameras to observe which animals remove the seeds :)
Thanks. Some studies display seeds at different distances from the mother trees, but normally within their seed shadow. I was hoping to find experiments with seeds offered beyond the seed shadow. We used camera traps and field sessions to observe the animals. Meanwhile, I submitted our manuscript. I guess the literature is scarce on this topic.
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