Abstract
Seed dispersal and predation are critical processes for plant recruitment which can be affected by fire events. We investigated community composition of small mammals in gallery forests with distinct burning histories (burned or not burned ∼3 years before) in the Cerrado (neotropical savanna). We evaluated the role of these animals as seed removers of six native tree species, potentially mediated by the occurrence of fire. We sampled four previously burned sites and four unburned ones. Seed removal was assessed using two exclusion treatments: exclusive access of small rodents and access of all seed-removing vertebrates. The previous burning changed the structural characteristics of the forests, increasing the density of the understory vegetation and herbaceous cover, which determined differences in species composition, richness, and abundance of small rodents (abundance in the burned forests was 1/6 of the abundance in the unburnt ones). Seed removal rates across the six species were reduced in burnt forests in both treatments and were higher for the “all vertebrates” treatment. Other vertebrates, larger than small rodents, played a significant role as seed removers for five of the six species. The effects of fire were consistent across species, but for the two species with the largest seeds (Hymenaea courbaril and Mauritia flexuosa) removal rates for both treatments were extremely low in the burned forests (≦5%). The observed decline in small rodent seed predation in the burned forests may have medium to long-term consequences on plant communities in gallery forests, potentially affecting community composition and species coexistence in these forests. Moreover, fire caused a sharp decline in seed removal by large mammals, indicating that the maintenance of dispersal services provided by these mammals (mainly the agouti Dasyprota azarae) for the large-seeded species may be jeopardized by the burning of gallery forests. This burning would also affect several small mammal species that occur in the surrounding typical savanna habitats but also use these forests. Fire events have been increasing in frequency and intensity because of human activities and climate changing. This current scenario poses a serious threat considering that these forests are fire-sensitive ecosystems within the Cerrado.
Highlights
Seed dispersal and predation are among the major factors limiting the recruitment of new individuals into plant communities (Schupp, 1988; Wang and Smith, 2002)
We provided for the rodents, simultaneously, all seed species used in the field experiments, arranged in plastic petri dishes (90 mm × 15 mm) placed inside the cages, in the following amounts: C. estrellensis—6 seeds; Co. langsdorffii—3 seeds; P. elegans—3 seeds; D. alata—3 seeds; H. courbaril—2 seeds and M. flexuosa—1 seed
We evaluated potential differences in small-mammal community composition according to previous fire occurrence by performing non-metric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) using Bray–Curtis dissimilarities on the site-by-species matrix
Summary
Seed dispersal and predation are among the major factors limiting the recruitment of new individuals into plant communities (Schupp, 1988; Wang and Smith, 2002). After leaving the parent tree, seeds are often vulnerable to predation (Mittelbach and Gross, 1984; Hulme, 1993, 1998; Cummings and Alexander, 2002) and high rates of predation can suppress the recruitment, establishment and even population growth of some species (Maron and Kauffman, 2006; Bricker et al, 2010; Zwolak et al, 2010; Pearson et al, 2011) with potential to change the composition of the plant community (Brown and Heske, 1990; Curtin et al, 2000; Harms et al, 2000; Howe and Brown, 2000; Salazar et al, 2012) These changes are affected by the identity of the seed predator, which in some cases may act as seed disperser (Li and Zhang, 2007; Mittelman et al, 2021). The understanding of these and other aspects of the ecology of fire is essential for comprehending past or future changes in these ecosystems (Bond and Keeley, 2005)
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