Spatial and Temporal Variation in Frugivory at a Neotropical fig, Ficus pertusa
- 1 July 1987
- Vol. 49 (3) , 261-268
- https://doi.org/10.2307/3565760
Abstract
Observations of single fruit crops are often used to identify seed-disperser- assemblages, relative importance of different dispersers, and adaptive features of a fruit display. We investigated patterns of seasonal change and spatial variation in the composition of the disperser assemblage of one neotropical fig species (Ficus pertusa L.), which bears large, aseasonal fruit crops. Five trees were observed for 242 h over a 5-mo period. A total of 26 species of birds in 10 families took F. pertusa fruit. The visitors'' identity, abundance, and importance (estimated by an index of the number of fruits removed) all varied among trees and over time for individual trees. Compared with its obligate, species-specific pollination mutualism, F. pertusa''s highly variable, interactions with its present-day disperser assemblage are less likely to be products of coevolution.This publication has 22 references indexed in Scilit:
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