Abstract
The tropical rainforest is a mosaic both in the spatial distribution of plant species, which are often clumped, and in the forest dynamics with the juxtaposition of areas of different age (e.g. Hubbell 1979, Alexandre 1989, Whitmore 1991). The role of frugivorous animals is central to the mechanisms of natural regeneration of tropical forests, since 60 to 95% of tropical plant species mainly depend on them for their seed dispersal (Charles-Dominique Chapter 17). Though monkeys represent the largest biomass of frugivores in tropical forests (25 to 40%; according to Eisenberg & Thorington 1973), as yet, except for some particular studies (Sourd & Gautier-Hion 1986, Janson et al. 1986), most of the studies of fruit choice by frugivorous vertebrates mainly concern birds (Erard & Thery Chapter 22). Other studies analysed the interactions between fruits and a community of vertebrate frugivores including several primates species (Janson 1983, Knight & Siegfried 1983, Gautier-Hion et al. 1985, Dowsett-Lemaire 1988).
Published Version
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