Effects of Fruit Crop Size on Intensity of Fruit Removal in Viburnum prunifolium (Caprifoliaceae)

Abstract

We tested the effect of crop size on fruit removal from an early successional shrub, Viburnum prunifolium (Caprifoliaceae), by comparing the «survival» distributions of fruit from plants with large crops to those with small crops. We found that crop size does not affect rate of fruit removal. Our findings differ from previous researchers who demonstrated correlations between large crop size and higher removal rates from Sambucus pubens and from Viburnum dentatum shrubs. Differences between our findings and those of other researchers may be due either to differences in statistical analyses or type of avian dispersers (solitary versus flocking species). These data do not support the fruit crop size hypothesis