Rice Univesrity Logo
    • FAQ
    • Deposit your work
    • Login
    View Item 
    •   Rice Scholarship Home
    • Faculty & Staff Research
    • Wiess School of Natural Sciences
    • Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
    • EEB Faculty Publications
    • View Item
    •   Rice Scholarship Home
    • Faculty & Staff Research
    • Wiess School of Natural Sciences
    • Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
    • EEB Faculty Publications
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Seed dispersal by Ceratogymna hornbills in the Dja Reserve, Cameroon

    Thumbnail
    Name:
    Whitneyetal_JTropEcol98.pdf
    Size:
    807.4Kb
    Format:
    PDF
    Description:
    journal article
    View/Open
    Author
    Smith, Thomas B.; Parker, V. Thomas; Hardesty, Britta Denise; Stauffer, Donald J.; Holbrook, Kimberly M.; More... Lamperti, Aaron M.; Fogiel, Mark K.; Whitney, Kenneth D. Less...
    Date
    1998-05
    Abstract
    Seed dispersal is a process critical to the maintenance of tropical forests, yet little is known about the interactions of most dispersers with their communities. In the Dja Reserve, Cameroon, seed dispersal by the hornbills Ceratogymna atrata, C. cylindricus and C. fistulator (Aves: Bucerotidae) was evaluated with respect to the taxonomic breadth of plants dispersed, location of seed deposition and effects on seed germination. Collectively, the three hornbill species consumed fruits from 59 tree and liana species, and likely provided dispersal for 56 of them. Hornbill-dispersed tree species composed 22% of the known tree flora of the site. Hornbill visit lengths, visit frequencies, and seed passage times indicated that few seeds were deposited beneath parent trees; in five hornbill/tree species pairings studied, 69–100% of the seeds ingested were deposited away from the parent trees. Germination trials showed that hornbill gut passage is gentle on seeds. Of 24 tree species tested, 23 germinated after passage by hornbills; of 17 planted with controls taken directly from trees, only four species showed evidence of inhibition of germination rate, while seven experienced unchanged germination rates and six experienced enhanced germination rates. Results suggested that Ceratogymna hornbills rank among the most important seed dispersers found in Afrotropical forests, and they deserve increased conservation attention. Ceratogymna hornbills are likely to become increasingly important in forest regeneration as populations of larger mammalian seed dispersers (such as forest elephants and primates) diminish.
    Citation
    Smith, Thomas B., Parker, V. Thomas, Hardesty, Britta Denise, et al.. "Seed dispersal by Ceratogymna hornbills in the Dja Reserve, Cameroon." (1998) Cambridge University Press: https://hdl.handle.net/1911/21687.
    Keyword
    seed passage; seed germination; seed dispersal; seed deposition; rain forest; More... frugivory; diet; Ceratogymna; birds Less...
    Type
    Journal article
    Publisher
    Cambridge University Press
    Citable link to this page
    https://hdl.handle.net/1911/21687
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    Collections
    • EEB Faculty Publications [67]

    Home | FAQ | Contact Us | Privacy Notice | Accessibility Statement
    Managed by the Digital Scholarship Services at Fondren Library, Rice University
    Physical Address: 6100 Main Street, Houston, Texas 77005
    Mailing Address: MS-44, P.O.BOX 1892, Houston, Texas 77251-1892
    Site Map

     

    Searching scope

    Browse

    Entire ArchiveCommunities & CollectionsBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsTypeThis CollectionBy Issue DateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsType

    My Account

    Login

    Statistics

    View Usage Statistics

    Home | FAQ | Contact Us | Privacy Notice | Accessibility Statement
    Managed by the Digital Scholarship Services at Fondren Library, Rice University
    Physical Address: 6100 Main Street, Houston, Texas 77005
    Mailing Address: MS-44, P.O.BOX 1892, Houston, Texas 77251-1892
    Site Map