The prickles of Astrocaryum malybo as a structural defense to avoid seed predation

Abstract

The evolution of ecological and morphological traits to attract seed dispersal animals is common in many plant species. However, these traits can also attract seed predators. These selection pressures stimulate the generation of strategies to attract more dispersers than predators. Here, we describe a strategy used by the Astrocaryum malybo palm to avoid predation of unripe fruits using prickles as a structural defense. We use camera traps to monitor three individuals of the palm for five months. We analyzed 83 videos of two animal species interacting with the palms fruits (Central American Agouti, Dasyprocta punctata and Red-tailed Squirrel, Notosciurus granatensis). Of these, six correspond to an individual with unprotected unripe fruits and 77 to an individual with exposed ripe fruits. No interaction was recorded in the individual with protected unripe fruits. We suggest that A. malybo has developed these prickles as a structural defense strategy to protect its unripe fruits from vertebrate predators. We use camera traps that allow documentation of basic natural history information including such otherwise cryptic interactions. This type of information can be used in models of food web structure, revealing unknown details of the ecological and evolutionary processes of such species interactions.