Abstract
The objective of this study was to evaluate potential avian dispersers of Miconia theaezans by dietary habits in the Cerrado of Central Brazil. Forty-two hours and 40 minutes of focal tree observation were conducted between 7:00 AM and 5:00 PM. For each bird species that consumed the fruit, we registered: the time they remained on the plant, the total amount of fruit they consumed, foraging tactics and strategies to consume the fruit. Five-hundred and fifty-nine units of fruit were consumed in 47 visits by seven bird species. Thraupidae was the most frequent and representative family and Tangara cayana was the main consumer. The Tachyphonus rufus had the highest rate of intake of the entire fruit, however the rates were not significantly different among the visitors. The most-used foraging tactic by all species was to consume the fruit while "perched" (95.74% of the visits). The most commonly-used consumption strategy was to mandibulate the fruit and swallow all the contents (65.12%). Omnivores were the predominant visitors (71.43%) and made most of the visits (89.36%). All visiting species could act as potential dispersers of M. theaezans, which demonstrates the low selectiveness of this pioneer plant towards its frugivorous.
Highlights
Seed dispersal is an important stage in the reproductive cycle of most plants because it can affect their demography and survival (Howe and Smallwood, 1982; Herrera et al, 1994)
Various plant species present fruit with attractive characteristics for animal consumption, and constitute an important food source, especially for frugivorous birds (Francisco and Galetti, 2001; Francisco and Galetti, 2002a,b; Marcondes-Machado, 2002; Melo et al, 2003; Francisco et al, 2007; Melo and Oliveira, 2009), a group that stands out when compared to other vertebrate dispersers due to its mobility and diversity of species (Scherer et al, 2007)
The birds visiting Miconia theaezans were registered in the Panga Ecological Station (PES), which is a Private Natural Patrimony Reserve having an area of 409.5 ha (Cardoso and Schiavini, 2002)
Summary
Seed dispersal is an important stage in the reproductive cycle of most plants because it can affect their demography and survival (Howe and Smallwood, 1982; Herrera et al, 1994) It is a fundamental process in the maintenance and recovery of biodiversity in degraded areas (Wunderle-Junior, 1997; Hardwick et al, 2004; Trakhtenbrot et al, 2005) such as the Cerrado biome, one of the biodiversity hotspots of the planet (Myers et al, 2000). This genus can be found in the Cerrado with several phytophysiognomies (Weiser and Godoy, 2001; Araújo et al, 2002; Cardoso et al, 2002; Guimarães et al, 2002; Assunção and Felfili, 2004; Gomes et al, 2004; Campos et al, 2006; Silva-Júnior and Sarmento 2009), being common in secondary vegetation (Araújo et al, 1997; Silva-Júnior and Sarmento 2009)
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