Evidence for Effective Seed Dispersal by the Sulawesi Red‐Knobbed Hornbill, Aceros cassidix1

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe Sulawesi red‐knobbed hornbill (Aceros cassidix) is a large‐bodied, frugivorous bird that nests in high densities in the Tangkoko‐DuaSudara Nature Reserve, North Sulawesi, Indonesia. I measured seedling abundance and species richness, diversity, and dominance in plots placed below and immediately behind 20 active nest sites to evaluate the role of red‐knobbed hornbills as agents of seed dispersal. Comparisons of treatment (below nests) and control plots (behind nests) show that hornbills affect the abundance and distribution of diet‐species seedlings. Nondiet and nest tree seedlings did not differ between control and treatment plots suggesting that differences in diet species were the result of additional input by hornbills rather than by random or other dispersal events. Significantly greater numbers of diet seedlings germinated below nests, and the diversity of diet species was greater than that of nondiet species. Dominance of a few species in the treatment plots is consistent with the hypothesis that hornbills are effectively dispersing seeds of some, but not all, of their diet species. Although seedlings under nests may eventually experience density‐dependent mortality, seedlings survived at least 12 months, indicating that red‐knobbed hornbills were effectively dispersing seeds and influencing the initial fate of seeds of several tropical forest tree species.