A comparison of inter- and intraspecific variation in seed dispersal in three South American primates

Abstract

Abstract Primate communities vary in their level of redundancy, or overlap, in seed dispersal function, which could be due to body size, degree of frugivory or intraspecific variation, among other factors. In this study, we quantified redundancy in seed dispersal among three sympatric primate species: Lagothrix lagothricha, Alouatta seniculus and Sapajus apella in gallery forests in Meta, Colombia. We compared the median seed width dispersed and the number and species richness of large (≥5.9 mm wide) and very large (>7.5 mm wide) seeds per faecal sample. The medium-sized, highly folivorous A. seniculus mostly dispersed large seeds, the larger, highly frugivorous L. lagothricha dispersed very large and small seeds, and the smaller, partially frugivorous S. apella dispersed the smallest seeds. However, for L. lagothricha and S. apella, we did not find the expected results that adults disperse larger seeds than juveniles. Across species, there is complementarity in seed dispersal in relation to seed size, with L. lagothricha being unique in its contribution to the dispersal of very large seeds both in terms of quantity and richness.