Authors
Patrick A Jansen, Marco D Visser, S Joseph Wright, Gemma Rutten, Helene C Muller‐Landau
Publication date
2014/9
Journal
Ecology letters
Volume
17
Issue
9
Pages
1111-1120
Description
Negative density dependence (NDD) of recruitment is pervasive in tropical tree species. We tested the hypotheses that seed dispersal is NDD, due to intraspecific competition for dispersers, and that this contributes to NDD of recruitment. We compared dispersal in the palm Attalea butyracea across a wide range of population density on Barro Colorado Island in Panama and assessed its consequences for seed distributions. We found that frugivore visitation, seed removal and dispersal distance all declined with population density of A. butyracea, demonstrating NDD of seed dispersal due to competition for dispersers. Furthermore, as population density increased, the distances of seeds from the nearest adult decreased, conspecific seed crowding increased and seedling recruitment success decreased, all patterns expected under poorer dispersal. Unexpectedly, however, our analyses showed that NDD of …
Scholar articles
PA Jansen, MD Visser, S Joseph Wright, G Rutten… - Ecology letters, 2014