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| Lôbo,D; Tabarelli,M; Leal,IR. |
| Although seed dispersal by ants might reduce seed predation near the parent plants, predation on discarded seeds clustered on nest refuse piles may reduce any initial benefit provided by seed removal. Here we examine the fate of Croton sonderianus seeds that were discarded by Pheidole fallax Mayr ants on their nest refuses in caatinga vegetation of northeast Brazil. We collected all seeds discarded in refuse piles of 20 nests and within a radius of 50 cm from their borders, and examined them for evidence of predation. A total of 3,017 seeds were recorded either located in the P. fallax refuse piles (89.1%) or nest vicinity (10.9%). Predation was three fold higher in nest vicinity as compared to refuse piles. By removing seeds from beneath parent plants and... |
| Tipo: Info:eu-repo/semantics/article |
Palavras-chave: Brazil; Caatinga; Myrmecochory; Seed dispersal; Semi-arid vegetation. |
| Ano: 2011 |
URL: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1519-566X2011000400005 |
