Overview

This book is the second major volume dealing with the fruit/seed/frugivore mutualism, which is an ecological interaction of profound importance in many habitats around the world. This mutualism is particularly well-developed in the tropics, where a majority of trees and shrubs depend on animals for their seed dispersal. Detailed studies of this interaction have only recently begun, and the field is in its infancy. Yet these studies are extremely important for an understanding of how complex ecosystems evolve, how they function, and how they must be managed to preserve their structure and function. Chapters in this book are written by many of the major researchers in the field and deal with the frugivory mutualism from both theoretical and applied perspectives. The book is rich in details about fruits and frugivores stemming from a variety of observational and experimental approaches. It also contains examples of new empirical and theoretical approaches to studying the fruit-frugivore mutualism. Finally, it contains important new perspectives on the conservation implications of this mutualism. Because of its breadth and depth, this book is a valuable source of information for advanced as well as beginning students in ecology, evolution and conservation.

Full Product Details

Author:   T.H. Fleming ,  Alejandro Estrada
Publisher:   Springer
Imprint:   Springer
Edition:   Reprinted from VEGETATIO, 107/108, 1993
Volume:   15
Dimensions:   Width: 21.00cm , Height: 2.30cm , Length: 27.90cm
Weight:   1.088kg
ISBN:  

9780792321415

ISBN 10:   0792321413
Pages:   392
Publication Date:   30 June 1993
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Specialized and generalized dispersal systems: where does ‘the paradigm’ stand?.- Quantity, quality and the effectiveness of seed dispersal by animals.- The population-dynamic functions of seed dispersal.- Consumption of fruits of the Melastomataceae by birds: how diffuse is coevolution?.- Speciation and coevolution: an interpretation of frugivory phenomena.- Geographical ecology and variation of plantseed disperser interactions: southern Spanish junipers and frugivorous thrushes.- Opportunism vs. specialization: the evolution of dispersal strategies in fleshy-fruited plants.- Consequences for seed distributions of intra-crob variation in wingloading of wind-dispersed species.- Evolutionary ecology of mast-seeding in temperate and tropical oaks (Quercus spp.).- Aspects of variation in a neotropical seed dispersal system.- Fruit size in a tropical tree species: variation, preference by birds, and heritability.- Spatial distribution of understory fruit-eating birds and fruiting plants in a neotropical lowland wet forest.- Weak interactions between avian and insect frugivores: the case of Pistacia terebinthus L. (Anacardiaceae).- Ecological and behavioral consequences of digestion in frugivorous animals.- The influence of seed packaging and fruit color on feeding preferences of American robins.- The influence of pulp lipids on fruit preference by birds.- Seed dispersal versus seed predation: an inter-site comparison of two related African monkeys.- Patterns of frugivore species richness and abundance in forest islands and in agricultural habitats at Los Tuxtlas, Mexico.- Dispersal mode seed shadows, and colonization patterns.- The influence of seed dispersal mechanisms on the genetic structure of tropical tree populations.- Soto-Castro, Seed rain and advancedregeneration in a tropical rain forest.- Monitoring seed dispersal at isolated standing trees in tropical pastures: consequences for local species availability.- The role of seed dispersal in the natural regeneration of rain forest after strip-cutting in the Peruvian Amazon.- Spatial scale and dispersion pattern of ant- and bird-dispersed herbs in two tropical lowland rain forests.- Removal of seeds from frugivore defecations by ants in a Costa Rican rain forest.- Predation by vertebrates and invertebrates on the seeds of five canopy tree species of an Amazonian forest.

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