EEB440H1 Chapter Notes - Chapter N/A: Seed Dispersal, Seed, Seed Predation
27 Apr 2016
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Document Summary
Seed mass and mast seeding enhance dispersal by a neotropical scatter- Mass seeding has been explained as an adaptation to increase animal dispersal and reduce predation. Looked at how seed size and seed abundance influenced seed dispersal and predation. Seed mass and abundance enhanced dispersal and seed abundance reinforces the effects of seed mass. Larger seed size and in greater numbers stimulates rodents to act more as dispersers and less as predators of the seeds. Scatter-hoarding rodents are both consumers and dispersers of seeds. Mast seeding is the synchronous production of large seed crops by a plant population, interspersed with years of greatly reduced seed crops. Predator satiation hypothesis proposes that mast seeding is an evolutionary response to intense seed predation. By storing resources during some years, mast-seeding species can produce massive crops in other years, which swamps local eaters with seeds allowing some to be dispersed and escape predation.
